Nursing Bonnie
by imlittleredbird
Summary: What do you do when the person who tried to kill you is trying to fix you? What do you say? [BonKai]
1. Chapter 1

This fanfic has been requested by a lovely Anon on Tumblr. Hope it's what you expected, Anon!

Thanks to Leia for the corrections!

* * *

 **Nursing Bonnie**

She felt numb, all her body felt empty, as if she was made of flesh only – no muscles, no bones.

Bonnie tried to open her eyes, but the sunlight almost blinded her. She tried to put a hand in front of her face, trying to protect it from the intense light, but she barely managed to move her fingers.

She tilted her head to the other side – carefully, because it seemed empty, too – and finally managed to look around her. She was in a bed, covered with a white sheet. On the wall in front of her there was a closet and on the other side a desk with a chair. This was _not_ her room.

She looked at the window, trying to figure out where she was from the outside. She could see a glimpse of a little garden filled with colourful flowers. It wasn't familiar.

She was still staring at the window and she was starting to panic, when the memories hit her like a gunshot.

Lily Salvatore. The wedding. Kai.

She had crashed the wedding right after him, just in time to see him walk towards the altar, ready to get his revenge. She had stopped him, facing him down like she should have done long ago.

And while Damon and the others had got everyone to safety, she and Kai had had enough time to try and kill each other.

She could still hear his mad laugh when she had broken one of his legs. She could still see his bloody face turning to look at her, his puppy eyes completely in contrast with it. The way he had held back his magic was unnatural, dangerous. He had looked at her like he had never done before, sad and conflicted and almost sorry that she had choose to stand against him. He had let her almost kill him and she still couldn't understand _why_. Why let her kick his ass, let her ruin his plan of killing everyone? Why let her live?

She closed her eyes, trying to erase the image of Kai's sad features asking her forgiveness just before everything had turned black.

She needed to erase it – to erase _him_ from her mind. It was because of his eyes, of that wide smile of his that she had lost, last night.

She inhaled loudly and looked at the door, hearing someone's steps get closer. It was probably Caroline checking out on her, or maybe Elena. Bonnie smiled, ready to welcome her friends, but when the door opened her smile died and so did her hope.

Kai was here. Alive.

He stopped at the door, staring at her with his mouth agape. He obviously hadn't expected to find her awake.

His dark hair was wet, a towel over his shoulders, its ends dangling against his bare chest, emphasizing his muscular body. He wore a pair of short pants and he was barefoot.

"Hi," he said shyly, taking a step inside.

Bonnie shifted on the bed, trying to get up and get the hell away from him.

"No, don't move," he said, getting closer. "I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise," he added, raising his hands in surrender.

" _Motus,_ " she yelled, moving her fingers to hit him with the spell, but it didn't work.

"You're too weak," Kai said, standing at the bed's feet. "But you're okay, Bonnie. I'm healing you."

"You're what?" she asked in a whisper. She was praying it was all a dream, that soon she would wake up in her dorm and he would be dead. "Where am I? What happened? And _why the hell are you naked, Kai_?!"

He smiled his mischievous smile. "Do I make you uncomfortable, Bon?"

She gave him a withering glare and he turned serious.

He turned his gaze from her to the window, as if he was avoiding her eyes. "I hurt you," he whispered and Bonnie looked at his knuckles turning white where he grabbed the foot-board tightly.

She wanted to remind him that that wasn't the first time he had hurt her – both physically and emotionally, but he kept talking.

"I almost killed you and _that_ almost killed _me_."

She stared at him in confusion.

"I know you think I hate you, and I do. I hate you _so_ much! But I can't think of living without you. And that is so fucked up, even for me!"

Bonnie swallowed, her head felt light again.

"Where are my friends, Kai?" she asked, struggling against the faintness she was feeling. She needed to know they were alright; she had to tell them what was going on.

"How should I know? I'm not their nanny."

"My phone-" she tried to say, but her sight was blurred and she couldn't focus on his face.

"You'll be alright, Bonnie. I promise," he said and the last thing she felt before she passed out was his kiss on her forehead.

* * *

He was still there when she woke up. He had put a shirt on and was sitting quietly at the desk in the corner of the room.

Bonnie looked around to find a weapon to protect herself with, in case he tried to hurt her, but the only thing on the bedside table was a glass of water. She felt powerless, her magic seemed to be still gone.

She sighed softly, trying not to scream in frustration.

Kai's head turned quickly. "Oh, you're awake."

Bonnie didn't answer, she had just noticed that the lightbulb in the room was on and outside the sky was black.

"How long have I been unconscious?" she asked, still staring at the window.

"A couple hours," he answered. "Better then yesterday, anyway."

Bonnie eyed him. She was trying her best not to show her fear. "How long is it been since the wedding?" she murmured, afraid of what he would answer.

"Four days," he said, emotionless.

Bonnie scowled. Four days? Could it be possible? Where were her friends, why didn't anybody come for her?

"W-where are we? What happened?"

"No one died, if that's what you're asking me," he said, sighing.

She looked at him suspiciously, waiting for more information.

"Fine," Kai said, rising and getting closer. "I don't know how much you remember of what happened, but you arrived just in time to stop me from turning the wedding in a funeral."

Bonnie closed her eyes for a moment, finally good news.

"I almost let you kill me," he continued. "I don't really know why, in that moment I thought your life was worth more than mine. I know, crazy. But then I lost control and I hurt you – badly."

Maybe it was for the injuries, or maybe for the drugs, but she just couldn't understand. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"I just told you," he answered, he seemed as confused as her. "I couldn't. I have never wanted to kill you, Bonnie."

She didn't answer, so he continued.

"Since the beginning, I just wanted to go home with you. I wanted you to see there was hope for me. I wanted you to forgive me. I wanted you to talk to me."

She looked at him, intensely, trying to figure out if he was lying, but his gray eyes were clear, there was no joke in them. He was staring back at her, a bit more relaxed then a few seconds ago.

Bonnie contemplated jumping out the window.

"How do you feel?" he asked, surprising her.

"Fine," she said. "I think I should go home, now."

"You wouldn't get far," he said.

She looked at her body, covered with the sheets. She didn't feel pain, even thought she felt a bit weak. Her arms were finally responding to her movements, so she shift the blanket to see if the rest of her body was still intact. The first thing she noticed, were the bruises all over her arms, but they seemed on their way to heal. Under the sheets, her legs were clad with white shorts; her right leg was plastered and the other one was bruised and scratched.

"You broke my leg," she said.

Kai wasn't looking at her. He couldn't bring himself to look at what he had done to her.

Bonnie repressed the urge to laugh.

 _He broken her leg_.

How many times had she, Elena, Caroline, Damon, Stefan and Jeremy broken each others limbs? Bonnie must have lost count.

But she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Why don't I feel any pain?" she asked instead.

He looked back at her. "Painkillers and healing spells."

She was at a loss now. What do you do when the person who tried to kill you is trying to fix you? What do you say?

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Kai was staring at the window again and Bonnie was staring at him.

There was something off about him. It felt unfamiliar being in the same room with him without either of them trying to kill the other or him trying to make a bad joke.

She didn't know how to interact with this version of him. In a way, she almost preferred his psycho self – at least, she knew how to behave around _that_ Kai.

She kept staring at him, trying to figure out what he was up to – surely nothing good.

If only she could find her phone, she could call Caroline or Damon or anybody that could take her away from him.

Kai turned his head towards her and eyed her questioningly. "What?" he asked, half smiling.

She furrowed, trying to seem calm. "You should send me home, now."

She had no idea what he'd say to that but she had to ask first before she went about this the hard way.

"I can't," he disagreed. "I'm healing you."

Of course, she had expected something like that. He wasn't the type to do as you asked just because you asked it nicely.

"You're keeping me prisoner, Kai," she pointed out. "I'm pretty sure you didn't bother to tell my friends where I am. I have to call them, let them know I'm alive. I have to call my mother, for God's sake."

She was starting to get angry.

"I called your mother."

"You _what_?" She couldn't believe he actually said something like that. "Please, tell me you're joking."

Bonnie put her hands on her face, trying to not think to all the possible things he could have said during that conversation with her mother.

"Well," Kai said, widening his eyes for a moment and smiling, "I didn't talk to her directly. We're not to that point yet in our relationship, you know-"

"We are at no point," she interrupted him.

She felt the urge to cry, then laugh, then cry again.

He looked at her hurt, with the corners of his mouth down.

"People see it differently."

"God, Kai, tell me what I have to do to go home."

"You have to wait. You're not going anywhere until I'm sure you're fine."

She sighed in frustration. She was sure she was going to have a nervous breakdown in a moment.

" _I am fine,_ " she said, emphasizing every word.

Kai glared at her, doing that thing with his mouth that meant he was going to prove he was right. His eyes were sharp, and his lips pressed into a fine line.

She was still thinking – wondering, really – at how well she knew him – how she recognized his expressions, understood all his 'tells' – when he said "Fine". He came closer, and touched her foot through the sheet.

The pain hit her like a tsunami. Every single nerve in her body was hurting, her heart was beating fast, her leg felt like it was being crushed under a train. She was screaming, writhing on the bed.

"Stop!" she yelled, grabbing the headboard, her fingers almost cracking.

The pain vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving her body shaking at the memory alone.

Kai's hand was on her left ankle, massaging it gently.

Bonnie was breathing heavy, her eyes closed.

"I'm sorry," he said, and when she looked at him she believed him.

His eyes were sparkling with tears. He was too proud to let them run down his cheeks, but they were there and she couldn't stop staring at them.

"What did you do to me?" she asked when her breath finally started to slow down.

He bit his lip. "I just lifted the healing spells."

She shook her head and slowly sat up, facing him closely. "Not now," she said. "What happened at the wedding, Kai?"

He let go of her ankle, and stepped away from her. He crossed his arms on his chest. "I told you," he said quietly, his eyes staring at a point over her head. "I almost killed you."

Every time she asked about that night, she noticed, he didn't look at her.

She massaged her head, she needed to clear her mind, there were too many questions she wanted to ask, but before she could speak, the door opened.

A middle aged lady came in.

"Oh, child, you're awake!" she said cheerfully, walking up to Bonnie.

She looked at Kai questioningly, but he didn't flinch. The lady put her cold hand on Bonnie's forehead and nodded.

"No fever. Good," she said, almost to herself.

Bonnie was still staring at her in confusion.

"Why were you screaming, my dear? Does something hurt?"

Bonnie shook her head.

"Good. What about eating something, uh? I'll get you soup," she said, giving Bonnie a pat on her unbroken leg. "Do you want something too, honey?" she asked Kai. "You can eat with her to keep her company."

Kai nodded and murmured a thank you.

The woman smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Bonnie looked at Kai and he answered her mute question.

"She's Martha," he told her. "She's a nurse and she helps me take care of you."

Bonnie looked back at the door, still half shocked by the presence of the woman.

There were so many questions.

"Where are we?" she asked, finally, deciding to start with the simple questions.

Kai sat down on the chair and rested his elbows on his knees. He clasped his hands.

"A bed and breakfast," he answered softly. Before she could ask anything else he added: "No plane trip, this time; don't worry. We're still in Virginia."

She almost smiled, remembering the embarrassing amount of things Kai Parker could do, but she suppressed it. She won't let him think she was in any way okay with this absurd situation.

"Is Martha a witch?"

"No, but she knows what happened." His voice was calm, but his eyes were cold.

"She _knows_?" she asked. "You told her you almost killed me and she agreed to help you?"

He clearly wasn't happy with her choice of words, but it was the truth.

"She tried to take you away from me, but she soon realized that you would die without my magic. She's human, but she knows about the supernatural."

Bonnie lay back on the bed. Maybe Martha could help her escape.

"She's actually the one who talked with your mother," he said with a small smile. "She still teases me about that."

Bonnie eyed him, staring at his smile. "What did she tell her?" she asked in a whisper.

"The truth," he answered. "That you're hurt, but you're in good hands."

" _Your_ hands?" she couldn't help but ask.

He shrugged, looking away again.

Bonnie looked at the door. Surely, this was just a nightmare. She had many of them since the day she had found herself in 1994. At first, they were all about her never getting back home; then when she finally made it, they were about Kai smiling at her while he sunk a knife in her heart; then she started dreaming about him staring at her in admiration before _she_ put a knife in _his_ heart.

She took the glass of water from the bedside table and downed it rapidly. Her stomach was starting to cry for the food it hadn't received in four days. She was curious about how they had fed her while she was unconscious, but she was afraid that that line of questioning would lead to where were her clothes and who wore her these shorts. She prayed he had the decency to let Martha dress her.

She thought of the woman again. She had to find a way to get her alone, to ask her help, explain to her that Kai was a psychopath – and an asshole.

She eyed at him, sitting at the table, studying her every movement. She moved her good leg out of the bed, trying to sit at the edge, waiting for Martha to get her something to fill her stomach with. Her plastered leg was difficult to move, so she helped it with her hands, moving ungracefully and almost falling off the bed.

He was at her side at once, ready to help her, but she stopped him with her hand.

"I can do it by myself. Don't come any closer, please."

She wasn't sure why she had asked nicely, but it seemed to work, because even thought he didn't left his place beside her, he didn't try to help her.

When she finally managed to sit up on the bed, she was exhausted and she sadly realized that she wasn't going anywhere in this conditions. Not without her magic.

She looked up at Kai, still standing before her.

"What happened to my magic?" she asked slowly.

Kai walked back to the table and she thought he was going to sit there again, but he grabbed the chair and pulled it to the bed, sitting down in front of her.

"I put it in Mr. Cuddles," he answered with a shy smile.

All her thoughts were clearly written on her face, because he answered the questions she didn't ask out loud.

"He's Ms. Cuddles companion," he said, his smile widening. "I had to put your magic away, so that it wouldn't interfere with mine while I'm healing you."

"Where's the bear?" she asked, shaking.

She was hurt and powerless, a combination that she didn't like at all.

"He's not a bear," he replied, offended. "I'm not that obvious."

"Where is it, Kai?" she asked angrily.

"Somewhere safe, I promise."

"I need my magic back."

"You don't. You're safe."

"I will never be safe as long as I'm in the same room with you" she hissed, leaning forward to stare him down.

"I won't hurt you," he promised.

She didn't bother replying to that. She was too weak to remind him all the reasons why she believed otherwise.

She would wait until the next day, until she gain her strength back. Maybe Martha knew where he kept it.

"Look," he said, coming closer. "I just need you to give me one more chance."

She jerked back, she didn't like being so close to his eyes.

"You had _many_ chances, Kai."

"When?!" he shouted, angrily. He took a deep breath and calmed down. "When you stabbed me with a pickaxe? Or when you stabbed me with the pen? Oh, wait, maybe that time you stabbed me with Crocodile Dundee's knife?" he asked sarcastically.

"Oh, I don't know," she yelled back. "Maybe that time you shot me with an arrow! Or maybe that time you tied me up and put me in a trunk. Or maybe when you stabbed me and left me alone in your Prison World!"

"Looks like we're even, to me."

They were both breathing fast, staring at each other in resentment.

She was fisting the sheets, and Kai's hand were clamped on the edge of the mattress, mere centimeters from hers. His head was bowed down and she was staring at the curves of his nape, his shoulders and back.

The more she looked at him, the more it seemed like if he was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders.

He lifted his head, caught her staring at him. "We need a fresh start."

"I'm not going to be friends with you," she objected.

"I'm not asking you to be friends," he retorted. "I just want you to promise me you won't stab me with the fork when I'll get you your lunch tomorrow."

She bit her lower lip. She couldn't promise something like that, she was _definitely_ going to stab him with the fork.

"I promise you I won't aim to your pretty face," she answered sardonically.

He tried to hide a smile, but he couldn't resist. "You think I'm pretty," he said, eying her boldly.

She rolled her eyes.

He was going to force her to admit that she hadn't been able to keep her eyes off him when he had stepped in shirtless, but Martha was back with their dinner. Thank God she came when she did, because Bonnie would have kicked him in his balls if he'd said something like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to Leia for the corrections!

* * *

 **2**

When Martha knocked on the door and came in with a tray full of dishes, Kai stood up and took it from her, receiving a thankful smile. He placed it on the bed, then took the biggest plate and handed it to Bonnie.

She took it from his hands with caution, seeing the soup moving dangerously around the borders. He handed her a spoon.

"No fork, tonight. Sorry," he said, dryly. He was suddenly too serious.

She eyed him for a moment, then decided to concentrate on her porridge. It smelled wonderful and she didn't hesitate to take a spoon of it, then another and another one. It was good to eat, her stomach was dancing in gratitude.

"Thank you," Bonnie said to Martha. "It's really good."

The woman smiled to her and Bonnie smiled back. She needed to make friends with Martha, because the woman was probably Bonnie's only chance to get the hell out of there.

When she turned back to her soup, she saw Kai staring at her thoughtfully. She ignored him and started to eat again. He took a sandwich from the tray and sat back on the chair, she looked away from him and studied Martha's figure, while she stood a few steps away from them, probably waiting for any new order from Kai.

The woman was probably around fifty years old, she was about the same height as Bonnie, with black hair and blue eyes. Bonnie wondered for a moment if she could be a relative of Kai's.

Martha was staring back at her, clearly she had lots of questions but she stood there quietly, letting Bonnie eat her dinner in peace.

But Bonnie wasn't at peace. She was afraid. Afraid of what Kai had done to her and what he was going to do.

She frowned, her spoon suspended in the air above the almost empty dish. She was thinking about the last time she had a proper dinner – seated at the table, the good china, the family – and she couldn't remember when it was. Maybe never.

Her dad always came home too late, long after her and her mother had already gone to bed. Her mother used to eat alone in the kitchen, when Grams was with them on Sunday. Maybe she had a proper dinner once or twice, when Elena's parents were still alive and she had been invited to eat with them.

With a large family like his, she imagined that Kai had a lot of family dinners. And even thought she knew they probably didn't all go well – mostly because of him, surely – she envied him that.

She shook her head. Why was she thinking something like that? She wasn't going to ask him to tell her about it, anyway.

"Something wrong?" he asked softly, making her look at him.

He was watching her every move, noticed that her eyes had shuttered.

"Everything," she answered, her voice hoarse.

Kai saddened even more.

The room felt heavy, filled with memories and fear and sadness.

Martha had come close to the bed, smiling motherly at the both of them. She leaned her hands on Bonnie's, warming them with her gentle touch.

"You should rest, Bonnie," she said, her voice soft and reassuring.

She took the plate from her hands and put it on the tray.

Bonnie sighed, looked over at Kai, his sandwich still intact in his hands. She didn't want to spend the night there, knowing that he was in the other room, free to come in and hurt her.

"I'd like to go home," she said, looking at Martha.

"You will," she promised. "Soon."

Bonnie's heart started to race. She was trapped there with a woman she didn't know and the psychopath that had almost killed her.

She needed a plan.

"Can I wash my face?" she asked, almost expecting they would say no.

"Of course you can," Kai answered instantly. "You're not a prisoner, Bonnie."

 _Doesn't seem like that from here_ , she wanted to answer, but she looked away and reached out to Martha, for her help getting off the bed.

Kai was at his feet at once, his hands stretched out, ready to help her up, but when she noticed, she flinched away.

He checked himself. "I get it," he said ruefully, and raised up his hands. "No touching."

She half-smiled, and accepted Martha's help.

The woman led her to the bathroom, slowly, patiently as Bonnie limped. Kai was right behind them, ready to catch her if she lost her balance, but she made it – sweaty and breathless, but she made it.

He stopped outside the bathroom door, while Martha helped her seat on the bathtub.

Bonnie saw her reflection in the mirror and almost cried. She felt very stupid to think to such things in a moment like that, but she couldn't help but notice she looked _awful_.

Her hair was a mess of knots and she doubted she could even think to brush them, her face was good, if she didn't count the scratch on her left cheek, the bags under her eyes and the expression of complete terror. On her shoulders there were many bruises, some – the largest – still purple, others yellow.

For a moment, she asked herself when the hell did she lose that skinny little girl with long, straight hair and a giant smile. Somewhere in between when her grandmother died and her mother got turned, probably.

She looked away from the mirror and caught sight of Kai's fingers turning white in a fist.

"Maybe I should leave you two alone, so that you can do all the things girls do in the bathroom," he said smiling, but his eyes were still sad. "I'll be in the other room, if you need something."

Bonnie looked at him, she wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure her or intimidate her, letting her know he was so close.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he added, finally smiling with his eyes, too.

"Good night, Kai," Martha said and Bonnie wanted to tell her not to use that gentle tone with him, but he was gone and she remained silent.

Martha helped her wash her hands and face, promising she would help her have a bath the next day. She brushed her hair the best she could and helped her get back to bed when she was done.

Bonnie let her do all she wanted, welcoming her gentle touch on her arms and shoulders, her sweet voice murmuring a song.

When she finally got back on the soft mattress – God, she was tired as hell – she looked up at Martha and held her hand on the sheet. She needed answers and she needed them now.

"Is this place yours?" she asked, fighting back the tiredness.

"No," the woman said. "I was here with my husband when _he_ brought you here."

Bonnie swallowed the fear back to her stomach. "Where's your husband?" she asked, she was afraid she knew the answer.

 _Dead_ , she was going to answer. _Murdered by Kai to make her help him, so she wouldn't die too._

"Home," Martha answered and Bonnie frowned. "We were leaving that day, but when I saw you in those conditions I knew I had to help you."

"What did you say to him? Does he know what you're doing?"

"Of course, he knows. He's my husband."

Bonnie thought that wasn't a fair reason.

"Martha, I need to call my friends. They're probably looking for me. Kai is psychopath, he murdered his siblings, you have to help me. I need my magic back. My phone, do you know where he keeps it?"

The words didn't seem to want to stop. She was squeezing Martha's hand, her voice desperate.

"I promise you, you'll be fine," Martha said gently, completely ignoring Bonnie's agitation.

"I won't if I'm with him," Bonnie replied, tears in her eyes. " _Please_. I need to get out of here."

Martha looked at her, sad and conflicted.

"You will die if you don't let him fix you."

Her tears were wetting her cheeks. "He's fixing me just so he can kill me," Bonnie said. "It's what he does. He's a psycho, Martha."

Martha squeezed her hand back, but she clearly wasn't listening to Bonnie.

"He won't. I can promise you that." Her voice was different – firm, secure. "He won't hurt you. Never again, Bonnie."

She was crying. She wasn't going to get Martha's help. She wasn't going home.

* * *

In his room, Kai listened to Bonnie's sobs.

It brought back memories of the times he would listen to his mom or Jo do the same when they thought he was sleeping. He hated it when he was six and he hated it now. Tears always had a strange effect on him; he just couldn't understand the point of them. Why spend your time crying in the bathroom – or the bedroom – when you could just eliminate whatever made you want to cry?

The first time it happened to him - the first time he cried - it was after the merge with Luke. Kai had tried to play cool, acting like he didn't know what had happened or like he had hated it, but it had actually felt pretty liberating.

To let the tears just roll down his face, fall on his shirt creating dark stains on the fabric and then watching them dry had been almost relaxing. But hearing someone else cry, knowing that it was his fault – like with his mother and Josette – and having nothing to do but wait was frustrating.

Every sob from Bonnie was like a stab in his stomach. He had promised not to hurt her anymore, but he had already failed.

Lying on his bed, Kai covered his ears with his hands. She had started screaming.

He could feel the vibrations of whatever she was throwing against the wall right behind his head. He shut his eyes, he couldn't stand this, it was just too similar to the screams of that night. The night he had almost lost her. The night he had almost killed her.

She had faced him with fury. She had burned his insides as soon as she had seen him – standing on the altar, ready to make his speech to the soon-dead members of his coven. He had fought back idly, holding back his power, almost like they were just two young witches practicing with their new abilities. But she wasn't in the mood to play and her spells had soon began to hurt.

She had probably tried every spell she knew, that night, and she could have taken him down, if she'd just focused a little bit. She'd been too distracted, he had noticed, she was probably thinking too much, as always. And that was one of the things they had in common.

They never stopped thinking. Their brains would melt one day.

She couldn't stop thinking about how much she hated him, that night, that's why she had lost.

He couldn't stop thinking about how much he cared about her, that night, that's why he'd almost killed her.

And he still couldn't stop thinking about her that way, even thought he was sure she wouldn't have healed him if their roles were reversed. She would have finished him.

Kai rolled on his side, trying to stop the noise in his head, and when finally the echoes of her screams and of the glass shattering ended, he realized the noise in the other room had stopped, too.

He took his hands off his head, trying to catch any sound from her, but all he heard was the silence, slipping under his skin, causing him a twinge of panic. _Was she okay? Was she still sobbing quietly or did she finally fall asleep?_ He was temped to go check on her, but the thought of finding her awake and scaring her made him desist. Also, he didn't want her to know he had heard her cry. He was sure that was something she would never want him to know. She wanted him to think she was strong and brave – and he was well aware of that – but it was almost funny that the time he had actually realized it was the time he had watched her fall to pieces, on her birthday, all alone in his prison.

But she didn't know about that.

She didn't know a lots of things, like the way he had caressed her cheek for the entire night when he had brought her there, unconscious; she didn't know that he had lain beside her, the night after, with her hand on his chest and her head on his shoulder, she didn't know how much he had loved it.

What she knew was that her entire body burned like hell because of him and his stupid revenge plans. And she hated him. He wasn't sure there was someone who hated him more than her – not even his family, probably.

She was the only one he wanted to hate. And she was the only one he wanted to love him.

 _Love_ wa a scary word and Kai had feared it for his whole life, but somehow he knew he wanted that from her: love – and forgiveness, understanding and companionship too. He wanted it all and deserved nothing, maybe less.

She was _precious_ to him and she didn't even know it. _He_ hadn't known it until he had almost killed her.

Shakespeare would have so enjoyed their fucked up story.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, guys! Just wanted to thank you all for your lovely reviews, I really appreciate it!

Enjoy this new chapter, kindly betaed by Leia!

* * *

 **3**

When she woke up, the next morning, she really didn't want to see him. She had barely slept, worrying all the time that he could come in her room in the middle of the night and quickly finish the job, killing her in her sleep, while she lay weak and defenseless.

But he hadn't come, not even when the sun had came up.

Bonnie was up in her bed, massaging her broken leg, cursing the day she had met him. She still couldn't believe she was in this absurd situation.

All her life she had been everybody's moral compass, everybody's best friend and savior and what had that brought to her? _Troubles._

Troubles and pain and loneliness.

The worst thing wasn't even being hurt and powerless now. It was being alone, it was having to count on herself only.

It was 1994 all over again.

She stood on her good leg and hobbled carefully to the window, she _had_ to try something to get out of there. She really wasn't the damsel in distress that waits for the prince to rescue her; she was used to saving her own ass, and she surely wasn't going to wait for her friends now – especially not after she had spent a month in Kai's prison, alone and hopeless. She had learned her lesson.

Bonnie dragged Kai's chair to the window – it was strange to think of it as _his_ , but her brain simply couldn't think of it as a property of the bed and breakfast; she could almost see his muscular shoulders, leaning on the back of the chair. She hesitated, even the ghost of his presence made her insides wrench. She sat on it with fury, trying to erase him with her own body.

She looked out of the window. Outside, the world was still spinning, regardless of her fate.

White, fluffy clouds covered the sky here and there, creating shapeless shadows on the garden below. She admired the beauty of it all, forgetting her problems for a moment.

When was the last time she had just enjoyed the nature? Her magic was linked to it, but she had messed it up when she had started to practice expression. It had been so long since the last time she had been outside, simply basking at the sun murmuring simple spells to make the colors of the flowers shine. She felt the urge to jump out of the window and lay on the grass until a summer storm would washed all her fears off her.

But she'd surely break her other leg, if she'd jumped. And that eliminated her chances of getting out of there through the window.

She was at the second floor of the building and she could have been able to take that jump if she wasn't hurt – even without magic – but in her condition the only way out seemed to be the door.

She looked at it. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't even checked if it was locked. She was trying to remember if she had heard Martha turn the key last night, but her crying had covered every other sound.

She stood on her feet – on her good one, at least – and limped towards the door. She was slow and weak and it infuriated her. All she needed was a drop of vampire blood, but that stubborn forty-year-old-boy would never let her have it.

Bonnie's hand was half away from the door knob, when she heard someone's steps get closer from the hallway. She stilled, holding her breath to prevent any noise and listened to Kai on the other side of the wooden door.

She was sure it was him from the way he draw his feet on the floor and from his magic was rubbing against her skin, amplified by the spells that he had put on her.

He stopped right behind the door. She could hear his breath, she could swear she felt it on her arms – goosebumps breaking out all over her skin.

Bonnie thought of running back to her bed and hiding under the sheet, but he would hear her because of her damn broken leg, so she waited. He would have find her there, but she could say she needed the bathroom.

He didn't move. She could still sense him on the other side. What was he doing? Was he waiting for her to open the door?

He sighed loudly and she heard his hand touch the door handle for a moment, before he stepped away and walked past her room.

Bonnie laid her hand on her side of the door, feeling the vibrations of his steps through the wood.

She frowned, confused. Why hadn't he come in? Where was he going? How long was he staying out?

She wondered for a moment if she should have stopped him and asked. He would surely lie, but at least she would have tried.

She opened the door on impulse, taking a few steps out of the room, but he was gone, the hallway was empty.

She waited for a second, sure that he would jump out of a corner just to mess with her, but he didn't.

She walked to the other side of the hall, resting for a moment on the windowsill. She could now see the street, where people walked and drove unaware of what was happening in the B&B. She contemplated for a moment to scream and ask for help, but the thought of Kai killing more innocent people because of her made her shiver. With his damn new powers he could blow down the whole city – which ever it was – with the blink of an eye.

 _Damn Kai._

She needed a plan.

She looked to her left, at the only other room on that floor. Kai's room.

He was hiding her magic in there, for sure. She just needed a few minutes alone in there, just the time to find Mr. Cuddles and take her powers back.

She was halfway from the room, when Martha called her.

"Good morning, sweetheart," she said. Breakfast was on the tray in her hands.

"Good morning," Bonnie answered, unsure if she could still go in Kai's room.

Martha eyed her for a moment, clearly realising Bonnie's plan.

"You have all the time of this world to get back your belongings. And it's not nice to snoop around in someone's room," she said, sternly. She entered Bonnie's room and put down the tray on the table, then turned back to Bonnie. "Do you wanna take that bath?" she asked smiling.

Bonnie looked from her to the room and back again. "Where is he now?"

Martha took a few steps in her direction. "Downstairs, having breakfast."

Bonnie frowned. He kidnapped her and now he was avoiding her?

"He thought you weren't in the mood to see him right now," Martha said, shrugging, as if she thought he was completely wrong to have such an idea.

 _He was damn right._

Bonnie eyed his room door one last time. If he was downstairs, he could sense her movements and stop her.

She got back to her room, accepting very gladly Martha's help.

She decided to take the bath first, wash off the tiredness and clear her mind.

This time, she was very careful not to look in the mirror while Martha helped her seat on the bathtub. The woman turned the tap on and let the water fill the tub. Bonnie was looking at the steam slowly rise upwards, filling the whole room and making her skin sticky.

When Martha was done with the soap and shampoo, everything ready to be used, she looked at her and smiled.

"Come on," she said, getting closer.

Bonnie eyed her suspiciously. "I think I can take it from here, thanks."

Martha put her hands on her hips, in a way that reminded her of her grams chiding her when she was little.

"If you think I'm gonna leave you here, getting in and out of the tub, with the one hundred per cent of chance that you will break your other leg you're completely wrong, young lady."

Now she was totally her grandmother.

" _Fine,_ " Bonnie answered, rolling her eyes.

She had managed to pee that morning, but she admitted that getting out of the tub wouldn't be so easy.

She took off her t-shirt and Martha tossed it on the floor, then quickly helped her take off her shorts and panties, tossing them on the floor too, her bra followed shortly after.

Bonnie's face was on fire. She was sure it was going to melt from the embarrassment, but she didn't oppose when she helped her get in the warm water, touching gently her bare skin. She sunk in with a sigh of relief, welcoming the overwhelming feeling of relax.

Her broken leg was on the bathtub edge, not the ideal position, but she didn't mind. Martha was washing her hair, massaging her scalp with a circular movement that almost made her fall asleep.

"Next time someone kidnaps me, I want you to be there," Bonnie said, half smiling.

Martha stopped for a second to look at her in horror. "There's a chance you get kidnapped again?"

Bonnie laughed bitterly. "Never been to Mystic Falls?"

Martha didn't answer, so Bonnie closed her eyes and enjoyed her massage. After all, she more than deserved a moment of peace.

But she needed to use that moment to gain information about Kai and this place.

"Where's everybody?" she asked, while Martha flushed the shampoo from her hair. "The owners, the employees, the clients? All dead?"

"Just on vacation," the woman answered.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow. Did Kai tekk her that or did she really believe that they all went to Hawaii?

"No unexpected visitors?" she insisted.

"The whole building is hidden," Martha answered, squeezing her hair from the water, "or something like that."

"It's cloaked," Bonnie murmured.

"Exactly!"

That was the reason why no one had come for her. She needed to call Damon.

"Does Kai ever leave this place?" she asked in a whisper.

"He left just once, since he brought you here," Martha said. "He was back in an hour to try something else to heal you."

One hour. It was everything she needed.

"He never left you alone while you where unconscious," Martha added, kneeling on the floor to get a better reach.

"Was that supposed to comfort me? Because it actually creeps me out."

Martha sighed. "You will never forgive him, will you?"

Bonnie looked behind the woman, towards the half opened door.

"Never," she confirmed.

"But he can still try."

"No, he can't, Martha."

Her eyes were on fire and Martha noticed that. She looked sad and Bonnie felt the urge to yell at Martha all the horrible things he had done to her in those few months. And she almost did, she almost told Martha what a psychopath he was, but she needed answers.

"Why are you helping him?" Her tone was low, now, hurt.

Martha caressed her cheek, but Bonnie flinched away.

"I'm not helping _him,_ " Martha answered. "I'm helping _you_."

Bonnie still didn't trust her.

"Believe it or not, child, I'm here on my own free will."

"I don't believe it," Bonnie retorted.

Martha just smiled. "I didn't think so." She got to her feet and picked up the clothes from the floor.

"Wait," said Bonnie. "When is he leaving again?"

"Ask him," Martha said, heading to the door. "I'm going to get you new clothes. Stay in the water and keep warm. I'll be right back."

Bonnie nodded, but the woman was out of the room already.

Finally, she had a plan. If she'd ask him to take something for her from her dorm, would he go? How long would it take for him to get there and come back? She was counting on his twisted feelings for her, but it was the only thing she had. Maybe she could even play nice, let him think she wasn't mad at him anymore.

She just hoped he still had a crush on her.

* * *

Kai was holding his breath, trying to catch any noise from her room, hoping she wouldn't cry again. All he heard were the little hops on the floor while she moved around the room, and the chair being dragged.

He hadn't slept much, always worried he'd hear her start crying again. It had scared him, her cries, last night, he was sure her lungs would have exploded if she hadn't stopped. She seemed to be better now, though, at least from what he could hear.

He was ready to go check on her, but he wasn't sure it was a good idea to keep forcing her see so much of him after all he had done.

Kai sighed, finally exiting his room. It would help no one to stay in there all day, and he was starving. He closed the door gently behind him, walking down the hall nervous like the first time he had kissed a girl – well, a lot more, actually. His first kiss was an experiment, he wanted to know if he could siphon magic with other parts of his body aside from his hands, but it'd been a failure. So he had put aside the idea of sex and enjoyed his siphoning in other ways – well, for that and because no sane witch would have had sex with him knowing what he was capable of doing.

Thinking about siphoning and sex wasn't helping him calm his nervousness while heading to the girl he had feelings for.

 _Feelings_. What a waste of time. It was all their fault, since the beginning. It was the fault of his feelings that he hadn't just grabbed Bonnie and gone back in 1994. It was because of his feelings that he had underestimated her stubbornness and got stabbed _three times_. He would have liked to tell her, to let her know that it was all her fault if he couldn't leave her alone. Her fault, and the fault of her damn _eyes, damn lips, damn magic, damn smile_.

 _Goddammit._

Now he sounded like that gosling of his sister Eva, getting excited for a new episode of _Beverly Hills 90210_. He had so hated that stupid TV show.

But here he was, frozen at the door of Bonnie's room, feeling his guts twist at every breath, every heart beat.

He swallowed the knot in his throat and raised his fist to knock and get it over with, but just like in one of the worst episodes of _Beverly Hills_ , he hesitated, placing his palm on the wood with unnecessary gentleness, like he would have done if he was touching _her_.

She was right behind the door. He could feel her presence on his skin, in his bones. She was probably looking for a way out. And he was tempted to let her escape, see how long she could bear the pain without his healing spells, make her realize her life literally depended on him, and that was something the old Kai would have done with no regrets, but the new him had experienced the fear of living in a world without Bonnie and he had promised he would never let it happen.

He walked away from the door, from her and those stupid feelings. All he needed was food. Food should be the only thing he had feelings for.

He headed downstairs, where he found Martha filling a tray with their breakfast.

He nodded a good morning while taking his plate with eggs, bacon and waffles and putting it on the table in the small dining room.

"Aren't you eating with her?" the woman asked him.

Kai was already chewing on his bacon. "Thought she needed a little space," he said, avoiding her eyes.

That woman was a blessing, her help with Bonnie had been amazing and pretty fortunate. When he had brought her there, he hadn't thought of all the things he couldn't do without that woman, like undress her, wash off her all the blood, plaster her leg.

Before Bonnie, he would have never thought something like this, but he believed she was an angel. He couldn't explain her presence in any other way, and the fact that of all the things she could have been she was a nurse, with enough experience to help him heal her made him even more sure about that.

Bonnie owed her her life as much as she owed it to him. And he probably owed her many things, too. The kindness with which she talked to him still amazed him. She reminded him of Jo, a sweet, motherly nurse always saying her opinion.

"All she needs is an apology," she was saying, in fact.

Kai rolled his eyes. How many times did he need to apologize before she started to _perhaps_ believe him?

"I've been there already. Didn't work."

She placed her tray on his table for a second, just the time to put a hand on her hip and tell him, "Have you tried to give her something, _before_ asking for something in return?", then she went upstairs to their guest of honor.

Kai thought about what she said. Yes, _he had tried_. He had told her how to get away from his prison, but all she gave him in return had been a pickaxe in his chest. He had gaven her the 1903 ascendant, and yes, she had spent some time with him and had let him apologize – again – but just so she could stab him and leave him behind. That wasn't exactly a progress. Maybe the third time would be the charm? He doubted that, but he could still try. He had to give her something she wanted. Her magic? Nope, not if he wanted to live another day. Her phone? Maybe; but not to call that dumb ass of Damon.

"Let her call her mom," he murmured to himself, swallowing the last piece of waffle.

He headed upstairs, taking the steps two at time until the first floor, but he slowed down when he was almost next to her room.

The door was open and he expected to see her eating her breakfast at the table besides the window, but her voice came from the bathroom.

He stepped into the room silently, feeling the sudden urge to hear what she was saying, even though he knew it was something about him being an evil ass – which he actually was, just not so much anymore.

He laid his back against the wall, beside the bathroom door, trying to resist the impulse of peeking inside.

"Does Kai ever leave this place?" she was asking.

Of course she was planning her escape.

"He left just once, since he brought you here," Martha said. "He was back in an hour to try something else to heal you."

Bonnie didn't answer, he could almost hear the wheels working furiously in her head.

"He never left you alone while you where unconscious," Martha added.

"Was that supposed to comfort me? Because it actually creeps me out."

 _Damn you, Martha!_ Was she trying to make him look even creepier?

"You will never forgive him, will you?"

Kai held his breath, he didn't want anything to prevent him from hearing her answer.

"Never," she said and his breath almost choked him.

The two were still talking, but he wasn't listening anymore, all he could hear was that one word, resounding in his head with her cold voice, hitting him in every angle of his new-found soul.

 _Damn feelings._

The old Kai would have drowned her in the bathtub, but _this_ Kai left the room. He definitely didn't need to hear more. He just had to keep trying to make her understand, make her _feel_ what he was feeling.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you so much for the reviews, guys! I appreciate your enthusiasm, it keeps me going!

A giant thank you to the precious Leia :)

* * *

 **4**

When Martha came back with a new pair of shorts, a shirt and underwear for her, Bonnie was drying her hair with a towel, wishing she had her own shampoo and conditioner – or at least something that would help her not seem someone that had just been electroshocked.

"Ready to come out?" Martha asked, holding out her hand.

Bonnie nodded, taking Martha's hand, trying to stay steady while exiting the tub.

The woman helped her wipe off the water from her body and put on her new clothes. She was feeling better already. Her arms finally didn't feel sticky anymore, she smelled good, and that scent of lavender seemed to calm her nerves.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, smoothing her white shirt, adjusting her hair behind her ear. She hadn't dried it completely, leaving it damp and slick, hoping that it would stay smooth just enough to talk to Kai.

She had to be pretty.

Trying to impress a boy wasn't something Bonnie Bennett used to do; not even when she could have, when she still had the chance to have a normal relationship with a normal guy.

Fortunately, she had witnessed her best friends do that _a lot_. Caroline and Elena always dressed up for their boyfriends, always had their make up on point, even during a fight, while Bonnie just didn't care of how she looked while she set someone on fire or while her nose bled for a spell. She guessed it was because she didn't care how she looked _in front of her friends_. Now, she needed to be pretty in front of Kai. She needed to remind him that he had a crush on her. Because that was the only thing that could help her get out of there. She needed him to care about her.

It wasn't a simple job, for her. She had never been good at flirting. She never learnt when was the right time to touch a boy's arm or to get closer to make him kiss her. She didn't know how to flutter her eyelashes the way Elena did when she wanted something from Damon. She didn't know how to sit like a princess the way Caroline did.

She was… Bonnie.

And if she wanted something she just took it. She'd never needed to flirt to get something she wanted. She had her magic.

But now her magic was gone and all she had was her body.

She raised her chin and looked in her green eyes throughout the mirror with resolution. If Kai was still infatuated of her, she was perfectly capable of getting him do her a little favor.

Martha was still at her side, looking at her reflection, smiling.

Bonnie wondered if she knew what she was thinking. Martha seemed that kind of person that would just _know_.

"I'll get you something to eat," Martha said now, still looking at her through the mirror. "I'll see if I can get you some make up, tonight." She smiled and caressed Bonnie's back.

Bonnie hadn't been wrong: Martha knew.

Bonnie was going to answer that she didn't need make up, but Martha was already dragging her out of the bathroom.

"You need to eat something, you're too pale," the older woman was saying. "I made you waffles. Kai told me you don't like pancakes."

"I do," Bonnie answered, thinking about the time she had made them for Damon.

Martha was looking at her, confused.

"I-I'm just sick of them right now."

The woman nodded to herself, as if she had known that Kai wouldn't lie.

Again, Bonnie felt the urge to shake Martha until she'd see him for what he really was: a sociopath, a serial killer, a psychopath.

 _The guy you're going to flirt with,_ her brain reminded her.

* * *

Back in his room, Kai was holding Bonnie's phone in his hands, staring at the background on its home page. Bonnie, Damon and Elena were smiling at whoever took the picture. Damon's arms were wrapped around the girls' waists, Elena had her hands around his neck in a possessive posture, while Bonnie, on his left, had one hand on his shoulder from behind and the other one on his chest, her dark fingers in contrast with his light blue shirt.

Kai wanted to rip the vampire's head off.

He sighed, laying back on the bed, his feet still on the floor. Staring at the ceiling, he wished she had came to his prison alone, or that he had met her before that horrible day in 1994. He just wished he hadn't hurt her _so damn much_.

When he had called her mother, the day after the wedding, the woman hadn't seemed too worried while Martha explained her what had happened. He was sure she knew who he was and what he had done to her daughter, but she had just trusted him, recommending him to take care of her daughter. He knew what she had meant, but he still found her complete trust shocking.

But he had to earn Bonnie's trust, and letting her call her mom seemed to be the only way to start.

From the other room, he could now hear Bonnie sitting at the table.

He got up from the bed, gave her phone one last check before putting it in his back pocket.

He headed to her room – without hesitation, this time – and knocked gently on the half open door.

The two women inside turned towards him. Bonnie looked much better from last night and he couldn't help but smile at her.

To his surprise, she tried to smile back at him, but her lips trembled, transforming her forced smile in a sad expression.

"'Morning," she said, avoiding his eyes.

Kai stared. She had obviously had a bath. She had changed her clothes and was in the middle of her breakfast, but was that really enough to make her civil? To make her talk to him?

If he'd knew, he would have put her in the bathtub himself! Maybe he would have jumped in with her.

Well, maybe _that_ wasn't a good idea.

And now he was thinking about Bonnie Bennett having a bath in his bathroom, the foam as the only thing that covered her naked body.

 _Damn Bonnie._

"Good morning," he answered, a little too late.

Martha was leaving the room. She passed beside him, looking directly into his eyes, smiling widely, and he _knew_ – he knew that she knew exactly what he had been thinking. Well, hopefully not the part where he deepened a hand into the hot water to search Bonnie's nudity, to explore the skin that the foam barely covered.

 _Damn feelings._

"See you guys tonight for dinner?" Martha asked, standing at the door.

Bonnie stammered. "Y-You're leaving?"

Martha smiled at her. "I'm coming back later," she promised, then left them alone.

They listened to her steps along the hallway, but the silence stretched so long enough to let her get to her car, probably.

Kai finally stepped forward and she tightened her grip on the fork. He expected to find it in his neck in a moment, but Bonnie stuck it into the last piece of her waffles.

She chewed slowly, while he waited, sitting on the windowsill beside her.

Bonnie didn't once look at him. She swallowed then she turned her focus to the apple on the tray. She picked it up and started cleaning it with a napkin, polishing and polishing at it until the red shone in the sunlight passing through the window behind him.

"You can have my eggs and bacon, if you want," she whispered, still not looking at him.

He frowned.

Something was up with her.

"You should eat everything," he answered.

"I'm not _that_ hungry," she said, finally meeting his eyes for a moment. "I have the apple." She turned back to her polishing.

He shrugged, giving into temptation and reaching for her plate. When his arm neared her, she shivered and he stopped mid-air.

"It's a shame to waste food," he murmured, moving very slowly.

She stayed frozen and he carefully slid the plate from the table and went back to the sill. He held it with one hand and was already eating the meal with the other.

She eyed him for a second then, visibly more relaxed now that he had moved away from her. Then she bit into the apple.

Kai stopped eating.

Bonnie's face was angled such that he had a perfect perfect view of her mouth and nose touching the bright red peel of the fruit, almost kissing it, her teeth sinking in slowly.

He wanted to be that apple.

She chewed slowly, and swallowed and he felt his brain fogging up, watching the lines of her throat. Then she bit the apple a second time and its juice dripped from the angle of her lower lip and this time, his jeans tightened. She wiped off the wetness with the back of her hand and her cheeks colored with pink.

 _Now_ he definitely believed the story of Adam, Eve and the apple.

 _Damn apples._

She looked up at him, the sun setting her green eyes on fire. She looked uncomfortable.

He blinked several times before his brain started to function normally again. He took a bite of the food he had almost forgotten was still in his hand.

"You didn't poison this, right?" he asked, swallowing the last of her breakfast.

She shook her head slowly, her lips curled in an almost smile.

 _What was wrong with her?_

Kai placed the plate back on the tray and tentatively reaching for her water. He took a sip, hoping she wouldn't mind.

She eyed him as he drank from her water bottle, rolling her half apple in her hands.

"So, Martha is allowed leave?" she asked, staring at the bottle in his hands.

"Of course she is," he answered, confused. "I'm not keeping her prisoner. I'm not keeping _you_ prisoner."

Again, she eyed him with her forest green eyes. Her eyebrows were close together in thought.

"But if I ask you to take me home you refuse," she contradicted him.

"You wouldn't be safe at home. _I'm healing you,_ " he repeated for the millionth time.

Bonnie sighed and he gets a whiff of her breath, the scent of waffles and apple tickling his nose.

He had never wanted to taste someone's mouth as badly as he wanted to taste Bonnie's in that moment.

* * *

She wasn't sure it was working.

She had tried to sexily bite the apple, the way Caroline had once tried to teach her to do, but she had soon felt the juice drip off her lips, the peel stuck in her teeth, and she had blushed. She wasn't good at flirting.

Kai hadn't seem to notice, though. Since the moment he had entered the room, he had stared at her pensively, almost confusedly.

She wasn't sure of what to do. And the thought of them being completely alone for the next seven hours or even more, before Martha would come back, freaked her out. She needed to make him leave.

"I'm going to die of boredom, if I stay in here a second more," she said, hoping that letting her die that way wasn't his plan.

He stared at her for a second too long, his lips curled. "You can come downstairs, help me make lunch."

"I doubt I would be any useful with my leg."

"You can watch the TV, read a book," he said, obviously running out of suggestions.

Bonnie sighed. "Look. I just need to take a few things from my dorm, I promise I'll be back and I'll let you heal me."

There, she had said it. Now she just had to wait for him to realize it was a bad plan in lots of ways.

"And how do you think you would get there?" he asked, pointing out the first of many problems.

She pretended to think about it for a moment. "You can drive me there," she proposed, trying to smile.

Kai tilted his head on one side and sharpened his eyes. "Our road trips never end well."

Bonnie couldn't argue that.

"What do you need?" he asked then, sighing. "I'll tell Martha to buy anything you need before she gets here tonight."

Bonnie swallowed the knot in her throat. "I-I need _my_ stuff, Kai. My toothbrush, some of my books… my grimoire, if you let me." She looked up at him, his figure darkened by the sun behind him. She blinked a couple of times.

He looked away from her, leaving the bottle of water on the windowsill and taking a few steps away.

"Fine," he said, docile. "I'll get you a pen and paper, you write down what you need and I'll take it for you."

She smiled – a real smile, this time. She had succeeded, her plan could actually work, after all.

She nodded at him, still smiling, and he smiled softly in return.

He took the tray from the table with him and she followed him with her eyes.

He still felt something for her. That thought made her insides wrench.

 _Your betrayal really hurt me, Bon._

Everything he had said in that tape came back to her mind with a vengeance.

She hadn't told anyone about it, because he was right.

 _This is kinda all your fault._

If she hadn't been so obsessed with her revenge, maybe he wouldn't have ruined Alaric's wedding, maybe he would have come as a guest.

She'd liked to ask him what were his plans before she left him in 1903, but she wasn't sure he would answer.

That was her plan B, she decided. If plan A turned to be a failure, she had to make him reason, maybe she could count again on his feelings for her.

By the time he was back in the room, his breath heavy, she had a whole new plan for when he would be back from her dorm. She hoped she wouldn't need it, but with Kai, plans tended to fail very easily.

He put the paper and the pen in front of her. He leaned forward, entering her personal space with that nonchalance that had made her think he was hot, back in 1994.

He still was. He didn't possess that lightning beauty that left you speechless, the kind of beauty that Damon and Stefan had. Kai was more that cute guy that you see every morning on the train or at the coffee bar, the kind of good looks that you noticed a little bit more with every time you saw him – from his thick eyebrows to the tip of his aquiline nose, from his stormy eyes to his muscular shoulders and his thick dark hair. He made you think he was God's favorite angel one moment - appropriate considering his full name - and then the next moment he was stabbing you in the stomach, twisting the knife with a grin as handsome as it was evil.

There were so many versions of Kai, she often doubted she had actually seen them all. She looked at his bright gray eyes now and she almost believed he had changed, but then the scar on her stomach seemed to clench in response and she couldn't stand to look at him a second more.

"What?" he asked in a whisper, staring back at her with the same intensity.

Bonnie shook her head, coming back to reality with a strange feeling in her belly.

She took the pen and noticed how much her hand was shaking. She took a deep breath and stared at the white page for a moment, forcing herself to calm down.

 _Grimoire_ , she wrote, thinking of the hardest things to find in her room.

"Write down where I can find all this stuff," he said, suddenly very close to her head as he peeked at what she was writing.

She repressed a shiver.

 _Grimoire, on the desk._

 _Toothbrush, in the bathroom, the green one._

She wondered for a moment if it was a good idea to ask him to get her underwear, but one look to his parted lips so close to her ear confirmed to her that no, that wasn't a god idea _at all_.

 _Grimoire, on the desk._

 _Toothbrush, in the bathroom, the green one._

 _Dirty Dancing, on the TV shelf._

"Wait," he interrupted and she looked up at him. His lips were twisting in an effort to hide a smile. "You need _Dirty Dancing_ right now?"

Bonnie shrugged. "If I have to spend who knows how many days here with you, I need real trash to survive."

 _And I need to keep you away as long as possible_ , she added in her mind, conscious that the DVD was actually under her bed to prevent Elena from depressing everyone every single Saturday.

"Would you mind to fetching some of my dresses?" she asked, eying him closely.

He shook his head.

"Thank you. They're in the middle of the wardrobe, you can't miss them, they're the more sober ones."

"No need to tell me."

When she eyed him for that, he just smiled.

She added a few more things to her list, giving a couple of wrong hints to their locations.

"Here," she said at last, handing it to him.

He took it, careful to not touch her fingers, and put it in his pocket.

She waited for him to leave, but he didn't move for the next few minutes.

"Aren't you going?" she asked, confused and nervous.

"Later," he answered. "It's almost lunch time."

Bonnie tried to fake a smile, but deep inside her she was cursing him in English and Latin.

He had sat on the table and his right thigh's muscles were just under her nose, practically daring her to follow the stretched lines of his dark jeans, all the way up. His hand resting on his leg stopped her from following her disconnected thoughts and she looked up at his face, carefully avoiding looking at his crotch and his flat stomach in the process.

"I-uhm-I wanted to do something for you," he was saying. His voice was nervous, in complete contrast with the confident way he held his body.

"What?" she asked, her voice even shakier then his.

"I want you to trust me," he said, leaning near to look deeper in her eyes. "And to do so I have to trust you."

Now Bonnie was completely confused, but she didn't dare to ask anything.

Kai stood up for a moment, balancing with his foot on the floor as he reached for something in his back pocket. It gave her an unrestricted, and zoomed in view of his thigh.

Bonnie's mouth went dry and she looked away rapidly.

He folded back into his half-seated position and handed her something - a rectangular black object.

 _Her phone!_ , she realized after a second. She reached out for it, but he drew back his hand.

Bonnie looked at him, hurt and disappointed.

"I'm _trusting you_ , Bon," he murmured, softly, bending down, so near her that his breath fanned her cheeks. "Don't make me regret this."

She nodded, swallowing the knot in her throat. He stretched out his hand and she picked up the phone carefully, tenderly as if he had just gave her the most precious thing in the world.

She touched the button on the screen and it lit up, showing one of her favorite pics. She smiled at her friends, feeling her eyes become wet instantly.

"Call your mom," Kai said.

She raised her head so fast she thought it might have rolled off. "What?"

"She asked me to tell her when you'd wake up," he explained.

"I-" her tears were threatening to roll down her face, but she held them back. "My mother is one of the last people I'd like to call, right now."

"You can call her or no one at all," he answered, his voice suddenly cold as ice.

Bonnie settled on her chair. "If you'd just let me call Damon-" she started, but he interrupted her.

"You're not calling him, Bon." He was coldly calm, but he was clearly ready to snap at any moment.

"He could give me his blood. It would heal me in a couple hours-" she tried to explain, but he cut her short.

"It wouldn't work."

"You don't know that! I saw it do wonders. Really, Kai, if you care about-"

"Don't you even _try_ , Bonnie!"

He had snapped.

She fell silent, her own heart pounded as she listened to his hard breathing.

It was moments before he spoke again, before he was apparently calm enough to.

"Don't you even try," he repeated, as softly as he had been loud before. "And I've already tried that," he added, avoiding her eyes.

She didn't dare talk, now. Her eyes were burning with tears.

"I fed you vampire blood that night, and the next day and the day after that," he explained, his voice broken. "It didn't work."

He finally looked in her eyes, but quickly looked away again when he saw the tears.

"Nothing works," he added faintly.

"Kai?" she asked, so softly he almost missed it.

He looked at her and his hands clenched on the table.

"Am I still dying?"

"No" he denied rapidly. "No, Bon, you're not and I swear I'm never going to let that happen. Ever."

Against all odds, she believed him.

"I'll call my mom," she decided, putting her hair behind her ear as she searched for the number on the phone. "Can I ask her to tell Elena and Care that I'm fine?"

He nodded briefly and gave her room as she stood gingerly. She moved close to the window, holding up the phone for a moment before she put it on her ear, to show him she was actually calling her mother.

Abby answered after five rings.

" _Kai?_ "

Bonnie stood there for a moment, still. He had said the truth: her mother knew what was happening.

"Mom?" she called, tears filling her eyes again.

" _Bonnie!"_ came from the other side. _"What happened? Are you okay?"_

"Yes, I'm fine, I think."

Her mother was quiet for a moment, before asking another question she wasn't able to answer. _"Are you safe there?"_

She looked back at Kai, who was staring at his hands, trying to be discreet even thought they both knew he was listening to her every word.

"Yes, I think," she repeated. "I need you to call Elena or Caroline and let them know that I'll call them as soon as I can."

She was staring at Kai and he was staring at her. There was no need to hide the obvious fact that sooner or later she'd try to take her phone and call her friends.

He didn't flinch at her words, staring at her with a strange mix of sadness and anger.

" _I will,"_ her mother promised. _"But you have to promise me you won't leave that place."_

"What?"

" _Promise me, Bonnie. Don't come back to Mystic Falls until you're healed. And even then, desist, Bonnie."_

"Why? What's happening, mom?" she asked, already panicking.

" _The heretics,"_ came her mother's voice. She sighed softly. _"I need you stay safe, Bonnie. Put yourself first, this time."_

Bonnie had a thousands of questions to ask, but her mother cut it off.

" _I have to go. Be safe. Let him heal you."_

Her mother hung up. She hadn't even let Bonnie talk.

Bonnie stared at her phone in shock. She hadn't expected much from her mother, but that " _be safe with the sociopath who almost killed you_ " piece of advice was extremely annoying.

She turned towards Kai, angry and hungry for answers.

He extended his hand, asking mutely for the phone. She hesitated and he raised his eyebrows. She huffed and rolled her eyes before handing it over.

"What's going on in Mystic Falls?" she asked, while he turned off the device.

"Is there a moment when something _isn't going on_ in that damn place?" he asked rhetorically.

She walked carefully back to the desk, standing right in front of him, supporting herself with the chair.

"Seriously, Kai. What are you hiding?"

With him sitting, she was for once, at a height with him. He looked directly in her eyes.

"Just enough to prevent any martyr action you're planning already."

"I'm not planning anything!" she denied.

"Oh, really?" he said, standing up, now towering her, his face millimeters from hers – it all brought her back to 1994. "So you're not trying to send me away so that you can snoop around searching for your magic, ready to run back to your friends and risk your life for the second time this week?"

His tone was sarcastic, but his words were completely serious.

She took a step back. He knew. Of course he knew, he had watched her for months, he knew how she acted and how much she cared for her friends.

She didn't try to deny his accusations. It wouldn't help anyway.

"I'm just trying to go home," she said, carefully meeting his eyes.

He didn't seem upset, just really sad. "There might not even be a home to go to, anymore."

She pictured Mystic Falls burnt to the ground, her friends dead, rotting corpses in every alley. She started shaking and her only good leg wasn't holding her anymore. Kai's hands caught her just before she fell into her chair, guiding her gently.

She shook them off, horror crawling up her veins.

"You're not doing anything," she accused him. " _You_ brought them back and you're not doing anything to stop them."

"Do you really want to play _who is to blame_ right now?" he asked, grabbing her chair arms and getting right into her face. "Because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have brought them back if _you_ hadn't left me there to die!"

"You reap what you saw," she retorted, her voice made cold from the memories that still hurt.

He stepped back furiously, running one hand through his hair.

This was almost a relief. Bonnie didn't fear his fury, his possible retaliation at her. This version of Kai did not scare her as much as she was scared of the docile, caring Kai that smiled for her every word. And what feared her most of all was not _any_ version of Kai but the version of _her ownself_ that responded to that Kai.

Nothing frightened her more than the Bonnie that had to struggle not to smile back, not to follow the the flow of muscles under his skin when he moved.

It was like there were two versions of Bonnie and Kai: the ones that fought each other for everything, and the ones that acted like two old friends who shared a shitty past. And the rapidity with which those versions switched drove her crazy.

"Look," he said, bringing her back from her thoughts. "We can fight about who hurt the other more, or we can heal you and find a way to stop the heretics in the meantime."

She looked out of the window to hide her face from him.

As much as she hated to admit it, he wasn't wrong. Even if she found her magic and escaped, she was still useless in a fight with her broken leg.

Maybe she should try to help him with his healing spells, or at least stop wasting energy trying to fight him.

But that didn't mean that she would stop trying to talk to her friends.

"Fine," she agreed, looking back to him.

He was standing few steps away from her, fists clenched to his sides.

"Tell me which spells you've tried and we can try to find something when you bring my grimoire."

He nodded, approving her plan.

"I'll need my magic to help you," she added, trying one last time to have it back the easy way.

"You'll have it back, when it's the right time."

She nodded. The hard way it was, then.

They stared at each other for a moment. Then he switched to the other version of him, announcing it was lunch time.

She looked at his bright smile, the same he had that day in 1994, when he invited her into his house, excited to cook for her.

He was a good cook, but stabbing her right after dinner had made her hate that version of him, too.

She hated _all_ of his versions.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, suddenly cheerful. "I'll take you downstairs."

He approached her, his arms open and he bent over her. She pushed at the floor with her legs, sliding the chair back, her hands gripping the arm rests tightly.

"What are you doing?" she asked, panicking.

"Taking you in my arms," he smirked, still coming towards her.

"Don't you even _try_!" she shrieked.

He rolled his eyes and huffed heavily, straightening up. "I just want to take you to the kitchen."

"I'll walk."

"Okay," he said. "You can try walk down all forty steps. No elevator in this cozy place, Bon."

She straightened her back and raised her chin. "Stairs don't scare me."

"Good," he said, heading to the door. "See you when you get there, hope you don't find your lunch cold."

He left. Exiting her room with a smirk on his face, walking out slowly, teasing her with his functioning legs.

 _Damn Kai._

* * *

I've decided to not consider the sleeping beauty plot and in this story Bonnie is the only one who saw the video tape from Kai, just so you know in case of future needing(?)

Thank you for reading ❤️


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you for your reviews, guys! I love reading your comments and thoughts, can't wait to read what you think about this one!

All the love to Leia, who corrected this :)

* * *

 **5**

She wasn't even at the first floor yet and she was already tired. She was carrying that stupid leg around like a ball and chain. Stubbornly, she kept on.

Kai was already there, but she didn't care. It wasn't like she so eager to see him, anyway.

Bonnie jumped carefully to the next step, leaning on the wall to steady her shaky movements. She hated this place already, but this was too much. Yes, the bed and breakfast only had two floors, but what were injured or old people supposed to do without an elevator?

She sighed in frustration, but didn't stop. She couldn't let Kai win. He was waiting for her to call for help, and she won't. She had been through much worse – some of it precisely because of him. She would get down to the kitchen and it didn't matter if she couldn't move for the next three hours after that, but she wasn't about to give up.

She had reached the last two steps before the first landing and she took them as fast as she could. She grabbed onto the windowsill and stopped to catch her breath and her strength before she started the ordeal again.

Bonnie glimpsed her reflection on the window and smiled at it: she was halfway there.

There were two other rooms on that floor and she wondered for a moment why he hadn't chosen those to be theirs, and then she concluded that he probably thought she would have jumped more easily from the first floor.

He was probably right.

The first room door was closed, but the second one seemed to be open. She stepped forward, keeping herself on the other side of the hallway.

When she stepped in front of the second room, she almost fell down, shocked by what she found inside.

The bed was unmade, its sheets covered in blood. The door hadn't really been open – there was no door anymore. There were metal bars at the windows and the shutters missed some pieces, wood shattered all around the floor.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

She had been in that very room only a month ago, trying to vampire-proof it to trap Caroline and Stefan in it.

That bed and breakfast was right outside Mystic Falls.

She was so close to home.

Bonnie's eyes started watering as she took a few steps into the room. She placed her hand on what was left of the door and inhaled the strong scent of vervain.

She felt even more alone, now. Her friends knew this place, they had been there not too long ago. But still no one had come for her.

She knew they were probably busy with whatever was going on in Mystic Falls, but she was _so close_.

Even Matt could have picked her up when Kai wasn't around.

She sighed and turned her back to the room, heading to the kitchen below. She didn't have the time to think about what her friends could or couldn't do. She had to think about what _she_ could do to escape that place.

And right now, her only chance was the guy who had brought her there in the first place.

They were too close to Whitmore, he would be there and back in half an hour at most. She was weak and slow, and surely, he was well aware of her plan A – which now seemed likely to fail. So she had to focus on plan B.

 _Seduce and conquer_.

* * *

In the kitchen, Kai was almost done with their lunch.

His _spaghetti alla carbonara_ smelled great. He had already set the plates on the small, square table – sitting Bonnie right beside him.

He wasn't sure why this boring-married-couple routine excited him so much, but he couldn't wait to sit with her and just talk, watch her savor her meal with gusto, appreciating his cooking skills. He knew she would never compliment his meal, but thanks to their quiet messed up thanksgiving dinner he knew exactly what to look for on her face. She had enjoyed his turkey back then: he could tell by the way she had started to chew faster after the first bite, the way her tongue flickered out to lick her lips and catch every little crumb. And, of course, by her murderous look that betrayed how much she hated him for being so good in so many things.

He smiled at the memory. If he thought about it, he had as many happy memories as bloodied ones of her. And that was _a lot_ from his perspective.

He just couldn't get enough of Bonnie Bennett – every version of her.

He obviously adored the unconsciously sexy and sweet Bonnie, but – all considered – he had a soft spot for the vengeful and bad ass Bonnie, too.

He shook his head. _Damn feelings._

Dishing the pasta on the plates, he glanced at the clock on the wall besides the fridge. It had been twenty minutes since he left her and she was still on the stairs.

Kai put the pan in the sink, wiped his hands on a cloth, and headed to the stairs to check on her.

Waiting at the bottom, he listened to her shaky, loud hops on the wooden floor.

"You alright there, Bon?" he asked – worried, but mostly amused.

"Almost there!" her voice came, strong and proud.

Kai smiled and climbed up the steps to meet her halfway.

She really was almost there, only ten steps remained.

"I don't need help," she warned him, taking another step.

"Didn't mean to give you any," he retorted, standing by her side and walking down with her, slowly, ready to catch her, despite what he had just said.

She glared at him for a moment, clearly trying to figure out what the hell he was doing, but she soon gave up and started to walk again.

She made a little jump with her good leg on the next step, then dragged the left along.

It dazzled him how stubborn and determined she was, just like him. Just like him _towards her._

Five more steps.

"The pasta will be cold by the time we arrive," he pointed out to her.

She didn't reply and took another little jump.

Four more steps.

"If you had let me carry you down we'd be eating already."

Three more steps.

"It took you twenty-five minutes to get down."

"Yeah," she replied, annoyed by his chatting, stopping for a moment. "God damn the person that broke my leg."

He took another step a further and turned to face her. He looked at her flaming eyes and sweaty forehead. She was serious.

He didn't know what to say to that, so he just turned, ready to lead the way to the kitchen.

She was taking her second-last step, when he heard her squeal softly. He turned quickly and suddenly found her in his arms.

Her fists clenched into his gray shirt, she was staring up at him with shocked green eyes and he could feel his face assume her identical expression.

She had lost balance and he had arrested her fall just in time.

His hands were on her hips, holding tight, leaving the marks of his fingers on her skin through the thin material of her shirt.

They were still staring at each other when he murmured a soft, "Caught ya."

That seemed to snap her out of her frozen shock and she straightened herself, holding on to his shoulders just long enough to get her balance. Then she jerked away fast, whispering a thank you that he almost didn't hear and walking past him.

He looked after her thoughtfully. He wasn't sure if what had just happened was an accident, because she had been trying all morning to please him to get him to leave to Whitmore, but if she had _really_ wanted to make him happy she would have just let him carry her. And she seemed even more embarrassed then him, running away to avoid any other contact, even a visual one.

He smiled. She was running – gambolling, actually – _in the wrong direction._

"The kitchen is on your left."

She stopped, stood still for a moment, then she looked to her left, nodded briefly and headed that way.

Clumsy Bonnie was his new favorite version of her.

* * *

 _Seduce and conquer my ass_ , Bonnie was thinking.

Her cheeks were still warm after what happened at the steps.

It was all Kai's fault, as always. If he hadn't come to tease her, she wouldn't have been distracted and she wouldn't have fallen.

Or maybe she _would_ have fallen and landed on her face, but she would have preferred that way.

His face when he had caught her was still imprinted behind her eyelids. His gray eyes, widened in surprise, had softened when he spoke – and _that_ was what had brought her back to reality: his eyes.

She hated his eyes, always so clear and sincere. They confused her, made her think he was a decent person. His whole body language implied that he was just a cute guy with a crush on her. His eyes, that little half smile of his, his hands on her hips, strong but gentle through the shirt. She hated that he was like this, because it made difficult for her to hate him, to remember that he was the same guy that had shot her with an arrow and stabbed her in the stomach.

If he hadn't looked at her like this even back in 1994, she would have thought it was all because of Luke and the merge now. But he had, even then he had looked at her with that spark of curiosity and amusement, and she had almost fallen for it.

Almost. She was well aware of his good looks and his capability to charm when he felt like it, but it wasn't enough to make her forget.

Not even his cooking skills were enough. She had never eaten such damn good spaghetti. Her stomach could have applauded him, but she stayed still, frozen by the proximity of his elbow to hers.

She glared up at him, he had wolfed down his plate and now placed his elbows on the table, staring at her intently. She looked back at her own plate – almost empty, too.

Neither of them had spoken since the accident – ten minutes ago, she could still see on his shirt the creases where she had grabbed him – and she was extremely glad that he hadn't said anything embarrassing.

She had thought to call him and let him help her, after she had discovered they were so close to home, to at least start with plan B. But being in his arms, feeling his chest against her side, her hands around his neck and _his_ hands on her back and under her knees, hadn't seemed like a good idea.

She had to admit it: she felt it would affect her more than it would affect him. She didn't trust of her shaky nerves, right now, where he was concerned.

"Why are we still so close to Mystic Falls?" she asked, wiping her mouth with the napkin and taking a sip of water.

Kai leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms on his chest. "You were hurt and this was the first place out of the city."

She nodded, understanding that much. "Where's the staff?"

"There were just few of them, when we arrived. Martha and her husband were the only other guests," he explained. "I suppose they were still trying to recover from whatever the hell you and your friends have done up here."

She looked away and bit her lower lip. Of course he knew.

"The scent of your magic is all over the building," he added, his voice a soft whisper.

She couldn't help but look at him again. His voice was completely different when he spoke softly: it became deep, serious, masculine, the opposite of his usual sing-songing tone.

He stood and walked to the cooker, taking a plate with sandwiches in it.

"It was our plan to force Caroline turn on her emotions," she explained, even though she didn't have to.

"Yeah, I figured that out." He sat down again and served her one of his sandwiches. "You have to try these, they're my specialty."

After all that pasta, she wasn't sure there was still room in her stomach, but they smelled and looked great. And he seemed so eager.

Bonnie lifted the first slice of bread, then the melting cheese beneath and examined the ham and anchovies in the middle. Her mouth started watering. She closed the sandwich and took a bite, feeling the hotness of the cheese burn her palate and the saltiness of the anchovies tickle her tongue. She sucked in air to calm the burning and glared at him, furious that the sandwich was just _this_ good. She caught him staring at her thoughtfully

She swallowed and took another sip of water. "If your plan is feeding me until I won't be able to pass through the door anymore, you're succeeding."

He smiled, visibly satisfied by her half-compliment. "My only plan is to keep you safe," he said, turning serious.

She instinctively leaned towards him to get more information. "Keep me safe from what's happening in Mystic Falls?"

He nodded, settling back in his chair.

"And what is happening, exactly?"

"Decrepit vampires with witch powers looking for revenge."

"Revenge on who?"

"The Geminis and your friends, mostly."

Bonnie stared at him for a moment, trying to understand why he wasn't doing anything.

"You're the Gemini's leader. Isn't it sort of your business to keep them safe?"

"I literally tried to kill all of them five days ago," he reminded her.

"Right." Bonnie leaned back, putting distance between them.

"They're pissed at my coven because they're the ones who put them in their prison world. I don't care if they kill my father and the elders," he explained, shrugging.

Bonnie sharpened her eyes. "But what about your sisters?"

He frowned. "What about them?"

"Aren't you worried about them? It's not their fault if they were born in that fucked up coven."

"Since when do you care so much about my sisters?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"I don't," she denied. "They're actually two of the three reasons I didn't come back before from the prison world."

Kai looked away for a moment and when he turned back he had that smirk of his on his lips.

"Liv actually interfered twice," he informed her. "But you didn't stab her in her back and leave her for dead in the snow."

Bonnie eyed him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," he said, quickly.

She shrugged and sighed. It was probably nothing that mattered, anyway.

She looked around the kitchen, trying to get her bearings and find the exit. The main exit was in the hall, she had found it when she had turned in the wrong direction before. Right beside the cuisine, was the door that led to the garden she saw from her room window.

He was still looking at her, following her thoughts.

"Go outside," he said. "Take some fresh air."

She eyed him suspiciously. "I will," she answered, but didn't move.

Her legs were hurting, but she wasn't going to tell him.

"When will you get my things?" she asked instead.

He sighed. "After I reinforce the healing spells on you."

"There's no need to reinforce them," she reassured him, but he raised his thick eyebrows.

"Your leg hurts already, don't lie. Plus, it will hurt more when I'm gone."

"Why?"

He smiled mischievously. "A collateral effect of the spells I'm using: I can't leave your side for too long."

She rolled her eyes. "A collateral effect that you haven't tried to fix."

"You know me so well," he said, still smiling.

Yes, she knew him. And he knew her – too well.

"Oh, did I mention that there's a restraint spell on the building? So that while I'm away I'm sure you're not running into the street." He blinked, making her feel like child.

"How damn powerful are you?" she asked, genuinely curious.

He held all the healing spells on her, the restraint spells on the bed and breakfast and who knew how many others in contemporary. She was impressed. Pissed off especially, but impressed too.

His smile widened, pleased by her astonishment.

"I'm _mega powerful_."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but smiled. He was such an adorable dork when he wasn't trying to kill her.

She turned serious. "So? What are we waiting for?"

He stood and made her sign to follow him with his head and hand, headed to the garden door. "Come on. It's a beautiful day."

Bonnie gulped, standing up, shaky on her legs, hoping she wouldn't fall again and followed him outside.

She didn't. And when her plastered leg touched the ground and her toes brushed the short, green grass, she giggled, surprised and happy for the first time in days.

The sun was warm on her skin and she could smell the scent of flowers and lemons from the tree in the right corner. The birds were singing, as if to invite them to stay.

Kai was right, it _was_ a beautiful day.

He popped inside and came out with a table cloth to lay on the grass.

She watched him spread the cloth under the lemon three, pleased as if they were going to have a picnic. He was so damn _confusing_.

He sat down, patting on the space to his left to invite her join him. She sat down quickly to his side, not because it looked cozy and fun – she told herself – but because her leg hurt.

Kai smiled when she fell ungracefully on her ass and she looked away embarrassed.

She let herself enjoy the sun on her legs for a moment, forgetting – or trying to – who the guy beside her was .

He let her have her moment of peace, limiting himself to give her quick glances when he thought she didn't see him.

"It would be nice here, in other circumstances," she whispered, hoping he would understand that for "other circumstances" she had meant "without you".

He nodded, staring at the foliage of the tree above them.

"I think we should start with the spells, now," she said, dragging herself towards the trunk to lay her back against it.

Kai got closer to her, almost touching her side with his, but she didn't mind – he was going to touch her anyway to perform the spells.

 _He_ seemed to mind, though.

"I'm going to touch you," he warned her.

"Yeah?" she half-answered, not knowing why he was making a big deal of it when he had tried to carry her for two floors just an hour before.

"So _don't_ freak out."

"I won't," she promised.

It was sort of nice of him to care that she would jerk back like she had that morning.

"I can't fight you, anyway."

He looked in her eyes. "We both know you can kick my butt, with or without magic."

Bonnie smiled. He was right, she had done a good job, back in 1994.

He returned the smile, but turned serious almost immediately. "What was distracting you at the wedding?" he asked. "You didn't fight with all your powers."

He tried to keep eye contact, but she looked away.

"Neither did you," she said. "Until you decided you could kill me, after all."

Kai shook his head and looked away from her, but unlike her, he explained his reasons.

"I didn't want to hurt you, and that is what betrayed me."

She remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"I literally have the power of my entire coven, now. And we all know that when it comes to you I have no chill, I can't control myself. You distracted me."

She rolled her eyes. "So it's my fault you almost killed me?"

He looked back at her, meeting her eyes with guilt painted all over his face.

"It's my fault I hurt you" he admitted. "But it's not my fault I feel the way I feel you."

Bonnie didn't look away, this time, because he was looking at her with his gray eyes, clear and calm.

She almost told him the reason why she was distracted that night. She almost told him that it was because of him and those eyes of his. But she didn't, she couldn't even though trying to get his trust was her only plan to escape.

She didn't tell him because to say it out loud would make it true.

"You should start now," she murmured.

He nodded, and placed his large hands on her thigh. The goosebumps on her skin, caused by his touch, betrayed her and he looked up at her, his mouth slightly opened.

She bit her lip and looked away, trying to hide her warm cheeks.

When he started to chant, she couldn't help but turn back and stare at him, tho. His lips moved rapidly as he performed the spells, his eyes were closed, so she could stare at him in peace. His aquiline nose was even a bigger distraction than his lips, from this angle. His neck and shoulders were tense in concentration, his bare arms were reddening under the sun. Her eyes fell on his hands on her broken leg and she noticed how deep in her flesh his fingers were; it didn't hurt, it was almost like a massage. And she had no idea why she was having these thoughts, but she just couldn't stop noticing how handsome he was.

At least, she thought, if she was going to try and seduce him, it wouldn't be so awful.

The pain caught her by surprise and she squeaked, jerking forward and clinging to his harm, squeezing tight.

"Almost done," he murmured, between one spell and another. But she didn't hear him over the pain, so she tightened her grip on him even more, focusing on his scent to keep the pain away.

When it was finally over, she was still so shocked she didn't move for the next few seconds, even after he had let her leg go.

Her forehead was against Kai's biceps, her nails sunk into his muscles. She was breathing fast and didn't care if she was so close to him, she needed an anchor and it didn't matter if it was him, in that moment.

When she finally lifted her head, she found his just a couple centimeters from hers. She looked him in the eyes, but he was staring at her lips, his brows close together.

Her heart, that had just slowed down after the pain, started to race again and she had no doubt that he could hear it, feel it on the tips of her fingers.

She looked at his lips.

 _Seduce and conquer, Bonnie_ , she told herself. _Seduce and conquer._

She waited too long to do it - to lean forward - and he turned his face to the other side.

She was still for a moment, shocked by his rejection, but then she quickly let him go, jerking back towards the tree.

Kai rose on his feet, his eyes avoiding her.

"I'm going to Whitmore" he announced. "I'll be back soon."

He was acting like if nothing had just happened.

She nodded, keeping her eyes down.

"Do you want to stay here or go back inside? I can wait, if you need help."

"I'm fine" she answered, colder than she intended. "I'll go back inside in a couple minutes."

Bonnie looked at him then and he nodded, then turned on his heels and left.

She stared at his large back and shoulders and at his clenched fists to his sides.

She wasn't sure of what had just happened, but at least she knew it had affected Kai, too.


	6. Chapter 6

I am really sorry for the delay, but this chapter was really hard to write.

And even thought it was ready yesterday, it's my birthday today and I wanted to make you guys a gift! Hope you enjoy it ^_^

Many thanks to Leia, who corrected this mess :)

* * *

 **6**

His fists were still clenched hard, his knuckles white, when he arrived at the car in the parking lot of the bed and breakfast.

Kai stopped in front of the car door and looked at his hands, opening his fists slowly and staring at his shaky fingers.

What was wrong with him? Why did her proximity affect him so much? Why had he turned away when he was so close to her lips? Those lips that kept him daydreaming about their taste and softness and had been only two centimeters from his and he had been scared to lean forward and finally conquer them.

She had scared him, with her nails sunk in his flash that had loosened when she had raised her head, with her heavy breathing that had probably followed the rhythm of her heart.

What was wrong with _her_?

Hadn't she said just that morning that she would never forgive him? And now she was trying to kiss him?

Kai had never been an expert in human emotions, but he was sure that if you hated someone you simply didn't try to kiss them.

Although, hadn't he told her that he hated her, yesterday? And wasn't he heavily disappointed that he hadn't kissed her now?

That was pretty much the summary of his relationship with Bonnie Bennett: he hated her, but he really wanted to kiss her.

What if she hated him the way he hated her, because she was afraid _she_ wanted to kiss _him_? Maybe, like him, she was afraid she wanted something more.

Kai put his hands on the roof of the car and bent his head down, staring at his feet on the asphalt.

But what if she plain just hated him? What if she was just trying to distract him to so that she could stab him and leave him behind again?

Was he ready to take that risk? To let her win?

The answer in his head was even more complicated than the question. Yes, he was ready to let her win, but he wasn't ready to lose. He wanted to win, too. He wanted to celebrate the victory _with_ her. But there was no victory if one of them _wasn't_ left behind. That was the rule they played by.

He was starting to hate that game.

He sighed and opened the door, getting inside furiously, eager to get away from her and those lips of hers as quickly as possible.

* * *

Bonnie lay her head against the tree for a moment, inhaling and exhaling the fresh air, hoping it would clear her mind from her dangerous thoughts.

Dangerous, because she was disappointed.

Plan B revolved around Kai's crush on her and she hadn't even been able to steal a kiss from him. And the problem wasn't even that, but the fact that Plan B had only been the second thing she had thought about when she had stared at his lips.

Something was wrong with Kai's lips. One could not just have lips like that and be human. She wasn't able to stop thinking about the way they had trembled for a moment when she had started to lean forward.

Her nose had brushed his, and for a moment she had hoped he would meet her halfway so that their mouths would touch even sooner. But he had done the opposite; he had turned away.

Her pride was wounded. She had been so sure that after all that time alone, he would have been grateful for any human contact; and with his crush on her, she had never thought he could reject a kiss.

But he had, and the thought of him doing so because he felt it had been a moment of weakness from her, being the gentleman she knew he was deep down, _being a good person_ , hurt even more. And it hurt so much because it made her _want_ to kiss him even more, not because she wanted to seduce him, but because she wanted to let him know – to let him feel – that she had understood, that it was true that there was good in him.

But that was insane. She couldn't afford to let him know that, to let him think she could forgive him – because she _couldn't forgive him_.

She couldn't, Bonnie repeated herself.

But.

 _If_ she tried - what would it be like – being friends with Kai? He was a powerful warlock with a good knowledge of spells and covens and traditions she hadn't even ever imagined; he was clumsy and funny, sometimes; and he was Jo's brother, and Jo was Alaric's wife, and Alaric was a good friend of Damon and Elena's.

But what was Kai _to Bonnie_?

He was part of the reason she and Damon had survived when the Other Side had collapsed. Without his Prison World for her grams to send them to, they would probably have died that night. He was the reason she had got her magic back in 1994. He had told them how to escape that world. He had helped bring back Lily.

Yet, he was the one that had stabbed her, put a scar on her stomach; and he was the one that had left her alone and hopeless.

And she was the one that had done all those things back at him. So, maybe he was right, maybe they were even. Maybe they _could_ try to forgive each other and move on, try to put behind them everything that had happened in the prison worlds.

Or maybe Bonnie was losing her mind and wasting her time, sitting here, wondering about things that weren't very likely to happen soon. Or at all.

She stood up and started walking back to the building. Her leg barely even twitched, and she wondered if what he said was true - that it would get worse if he didn't come back soon.

Coming from outdoors into the house blinded her for a moment; when her eyes adjusted, she stared for a moment at the table they had been occupying up until half an hour ago. The remains of their lunch were still there, laying in the plates. She stared at the way he had sett the table, laying the cloth and china with care, his seat close to hers, the little flower in front of her. If someone had seen that scene, they would have assumed that she and Kai had had a lovely lunch.

They _had_ , Bonnie realized. It had been a peaceful and relaxing half an hour.

And she _hated_ that. She hated to be so relaxed around him, so comfortable with his presence around her, when she had thought she didn't want to see him ever again only that morning. She was starting to think she had some sort of personality disorder.

A bipolar witch and a psychopathic warlock attracted by each other were just what Mystic Falls needed, she thought bitterly.

Bonnie pondered on that for a moment. She _was_ attracted to Kai, to his charisma and his good looks. She had _always_ been attracted to him, since the first day in 1994 – denying it was of no use. But how _badly_ was his appeal to her, she didn't know. She wouldn't tell if she had a _crush_ on him but then again, she hadn't had a crush on anyone for so long that she doubted she would recognize the feeling. What she knew for certain was that she didn't hate him like she did a month ago.

And that was more reason for her to stop wasting time and try to find her magic instead.

She stepped away from the kitchen and into the hall. She searched for a phone behind the counter, but all that remained of it were the electric wires hanging out of the wall. Bonnie headed to the front door, even though she knew it was useless. She put a hand on the door knob and pulled it, taking a step forward. She was gently pushed back by an invisible force that closed the door in front of her.

She sighed in frustration, but didn't give up. She kept wandering around until she located the living room, with two couches, a TV on the wall, and a fireplace in the left corner. She looked around to find something that could contain her magic, but she knew she wouldn't find anything down there. She'd been a fool, letting him convince her to lunch downstairs – two flights of stairs away from his room.

Bonnie laughed nervously at the thought of going back upstairs with her leg that was already tingling because of Kai's absence. He had been right about that.

Her magic had to wait until Martha's return. There was no way she was going to let him carry her up there. No way.

* * *

Of course, she had written the wrong places to find her things. She was a Bennett, after all.

Kai stared at the TV shelf where _Dirty Dancing_ was supposed to be, and murmured a locator spell to find everything on the list.

As everything started flying into his bag, he wandered around the room, looking for other things to get for her. Of course, Ms. Cuddles was going with him.

Kai sat on Bonnie's bed and stared at the picture on her bedside table. She wore a leather jacket and was turned towards the person that had took the pic. She looked older, maybe because of the make up which was a little heavier than he was used to see on her – these days she wore none. Without thinking twice, Kai took the picture and removed it from its frame, putting the photo in the pocket of his black jeans. Then he stood up and walked to the girls' wardrobe.

In the centre, as Bonnie had told him, there was a pile of dresses and t-shirts in dark colors – green, blue, black, purple – almost swallowed by the amount of sun dresses on the right, all yellow and flowers. He had no doubt that was Caroline's corner.

He shoved a bunch of dresses in his bag, wondering if she chose them because they were easier to wear or because she was trying to drive him mad. Bonnie's legs were works of art, and she had to be aware of that or she wouldn't have so many short skirts.

In Caroline's corner, one of the dresses caught his attention – blue with big, bright red roses and thin straps, its label still in place. He took it, because if he really had to go completely mad because of her, he wanted it to be because of her in that dress.

Kai was leaving the dormitory when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He answered with a smirk on his lips, even though he knew that that call was going to bring him troubles.

"Don't tell me you learned how to use as smartphone before me."

From the other side came a warning snarl. "It's no time for jokes, Malachai."

Lily's voice was cold and he turned serious.

"What's the problem, now?"

"Your friends are the problem," she answered. "Your younger sister, especially."

"Doesn't seem like it's _my_ problem" he said, trying to get back to his car faster.

"You have to help us, just like we helped you save Bonnie."

Kai stopped in the middle of the corridor, his eyes sharp and his grip tight on the bag with Bonnie's belongings.

"Let me be clear, Lily. If there's anyone that owes anyone a favour, it's you owing me. I brought you and your friends back from your prison. You owe me more than a few vials of blood. I don't wanna be involved in your fights."

Lily didn't answer.

"And stay the hell away from my sisters," he added, before hanging up furiously.

He sighed, pushing back what he was certain was the Luke inside him that wanted to help Liv with whatever the hell she was up to.

He didn't have the time to help the Mystic Falls gang – nor the energy. He was already expending an enormous amount on the spells on Bonnie and the bed and breakfast. It was time they learned how to save their asses without a powerful witch on their side.

"Kai?"

Kai rolled his eyes and turned towards the male voice behind him. "What now?"

Alaric walked rapidly towards him, a pile of what seemed like ancient books in his arms.

"You have to take Jo somewhere safe," he said, looking really tired.

"I stopped baby-sitting my siblings the day I decimated them," he answered sarcastically, trying to get back to the exit.

But Alaric grabbed his shoulder. "She can help you with Bonnie," he said, his voice was desperate.

"Bonnie's fine," he answered, coldly.

"She's not, and you know that."

"How do _you_ know that?"

"From the look on your face and Ms. Cuddles peeking out of your bag," he said, eying him for a reaction. "She's still with you, and there's only one thing that can stop Bonnie Bennett from helping her friends: she's injured."

Kai smiled. "Yeah, but guess what, Sherlock: I'm still not taking Jo."

"She's pregnant," Alaric reminded him.

"Oh, right. Another reason to say no."

Kai slipped from his grip, but Alaric stopped him again.

"Ask Bonnie" he said. "If she thinks you should help your sister, come back here tomorrow morning. I'll make sure Jo will come."

"She doesn't want to?" Kai asked, suddenly aware of his brother-in-law's plan. He was trying to save his wife against her own will – just what he was doing with Bonnie.

That thought made Kai's stomach wrench. If he acted like Alaric and Alaric was acting this way because he loved Jo, did that mean that he loved Bonnie?

No. Fucking. Way.

He hadn't even known what love was until a month ago, when he had felt what Luke felt for Liv. And that – sure as hell – was not the kind of love one was supposed to feel for someone you wanted to spend your life with, someone you wanted _to have sex with_.

Well he _did_ want to have sex with Bonnie, and he wanted to save her from everyone and from herself, but did he want to spend his life with her?

He tried to consider that for a moment, but Alaric was staring at him with a strange face.

"I literally tried to kill your wife five days ago, yet you want me to take her with me."

"I trust Bonnie."

Who didn't? If Kai would have put his life in someone's hands, that was Bonnie.

Even though she'd literally killed him more than once.

His brain wasn't functioning normally.

"I'll think about it," Kai said sarcastically, but Alaric was so desperate he believed him.

He nodded briefly. "She'll be here tomorrow."

Kai eyed him one more time, repressing the feeling of pity inside him.

He left, finally getting to his car. He took a deep breath, still thinking about life, love and Bonnie Bennett.

* * *

Wandering around the rooms of the building, Bonnie was trying to distract herself from the maddening itch in her leg. She had never thought she would feel this way – especially after she had done anything to make him leave – but she couldn't wait for Kai's return.

She hadn't found a way to bypass the restraint spell, so she had turned the TV on, hoping to hear something from the local news about Mystic Falls, but nothing had came out, not even a word about her hometown. And that scared her even more.

Few victims were usually explained as animal attacks, more victims weren't explained at all.

She had turned the TV off, but soon changed her mind when the silence around her threatened to crush her.

When she finally heard a car in the proximity, she had run to the door, waiting for Kai to relieve her pain.

As soon as he crossed the restraint spell, her leg slowly stopped hurting and she smiled, sighing in relief.

Kai stared at her for a moment, standing at the door, but she didn't bother to hide her smile.

"Hi," she said, feeling her heart lighten.

"Hi," he answered, feeling the same.

"Found everything?" Bonnie asked, eying his bag.

"No thanks to you," he said, walking in and towards the living room.

Bonnie wrinkled her nose, feeling just a bit guilty.

He sat on one of the couches, and put the bag on the coffee table to let her see what he had brought her.

Kai took Ms. Cuddles out and smiled at Bonnie, obviously expecting her to smile back, but she just eyed him suspiciously.

"You always take her – Ms. Cuddles. You always bring her along. Why?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Kai frowned, staring down at the bear. "Because she's important to you."

Bonnie looked away for a moment, trying to find the right words, then back at him and his lost-puppy face.

"Thank you," she said finally, stretching a hand for her bear.

He handed Ms. Cuddles over with a small smile and, this time, she smiled back at him.

"Have you found my grimoire?" she asked, sitting on the other couch with the bear on her lap.

"Yeah, it's right here."

Kai took the spell book from the bag and gave it to her.

Bonnie brushed its cover gently, getting lost in her memories for a moment.

"Do you want to see mine?" he asked, staring at her expectantly.

She nodded, following him with her eyes as he stood and walked towards the fireplace, taking a grimoire – twice the size of hers – from the corner cupboard.

He came back to the couches, but didn't sit down on his, he sat on the floor at her couch's feet, his back against arm rest.

"I didn't know you had a grimoire," she said, shifting closer to his head to peek at the book on his legs.

"This belongs to the coven leader," he explained. "I took it when we went to Portland for Thanksgiving."

Bonnie recoiled, remembering the conclusion of their trip. He sighed, staring down at the grimoire to avoid her eyes.

"I suppose some of these spells are a little bit antiquated, but they work."

Bonnie nodded, opening her own grimoire. "Maybe I've got some update."

He smiled, glancing rapidly at her. She was now sitting with her right leg down and the left bent down under her, Ms. Cuddles at her side and the book on her legs.

He looked away, swallowing a knot in his throat. The way she was – it was like she was everything he had never seen and everything he had ever wanted. Not just now, but in his old life, too. The young, introvert Malachai had wanted someone that would stick with him no matter what, someone that would just _be there_ , no need to talk or do anything.

Maybe, if he had met Bonnie then, when he still hadn't ruined so many lives, maybe he would have liked her – even if he hadn't really liked anyone in those days. And maybe she would have liked him. She _had_ liked him, in the prison world, before knowing what he had done to his family. Maybe she could still like him now.

And maybe he _was_ in love with her.

And maybe he was in deep shit.

"I think we should start healing my leg, first. And then we can concentrate on whatever the hell you've done to me," she said, huffing lightly.

"Uh? Yeah, uhm, yes. You're right."

She stared at him in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, settling himself against the couch.

She didn't look convinced, but didn't ask further.

Kai turned back to his grimoire, staring absently at the pages in front of him.

If she hadn't liked him at least a little bit, she wouldn't have tried to kiss him, right? And if he wasn't into her so much he wouldn't had cared to kiss her. But he wanted to kiss her – so damn badly.

He snapped the book shut, making her jump in surprise.

"Sorry," said he, turning towards her.

She was still examining her spell book, biting her nails in thought.

"Could you make Martha channel your magic and help her find the exact spot where my leg is broken with her nurse knowledge? It could be a lot faster, than just spreading magic all over my leg."

He frowned for a moment, thinking about it. "Not unless Martha's a witch."

Bonnie sighed, nodding understanding. "Right."

Kai stared at her for a moment. He could do that, with Jo's help.

He looked at her plastered leg, right in front of him.

"I- uhm-" he started, getting really nervous. She was staring back at him, now, and his palms were sweaty. "I've talked to Alaric."

She put her book aside at once, and leaned towards him to hear more. "What did he say?"

Her voice was full of hope and he hesitated. He almost didn't tell her about his conversation with his brand new brother-in-law, because she was clearly hoping he had asked about her – but he hadn't.

"He wanted me to take Jo here with us," he said. "To keep her safe."

She blinked several times, clearly questioning her friend's judgment.

"He wants _you_ to take care of _her_?" she asked, incredulous. "Doesn't he remember that you tried to kill her a few days ago?"

The nonchalance with which she talked about his tempted mass murder amazed him.

"Yeah, I pointed that out, too" he said, rolling his eyes. "He said that he trusts you."

Bonnie raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything. She stared at the coffee table in front of her for a long moment, before looking back at him.

"What did you say?"

He stared back at her, his mouth agape. She wouldn't be pleased with him denying his help to his twin sister, but she probably wouldn't even be surprised.

"I said no," he confessed. "I don't want to worry about her wandering around, asking questions, being pregnant."

She shrugged, obviously wondering why he was telling her if he had already said no.

"But she could keep you company," he added, swallowing hard. "And she could do the healing spell you proposed."

She sharpened her eyes. "But she isn't a witch anymore. You just said that we need a witch."

"She is still a witch, even though she has no powers. And she's my sister, we have a connection, and we can use it so that she can channel my magic."

Bonnie smiled widely. "Really?"

He nodded, smiling back, feeling his chest swell with pride. "Yes!"

He saw it. Before she realized what she was doing, he saw her reaching towards him for a hug. And when she didn't, when she straightened herself and looked away, still smiling, he felt his stomach clench in disappointment.

He _was_ in deep shit. He _did_ love her.

 _Damn love_.

* * *

She had almost hugged him. For real. She had stretched forward to wrap her arms around his neck and give him a proper koala-bear hug. Squeals and laughs included.

Thank God she had stopped in time.

It had just been a rush of happiness. The thought of freeing herself from the plaster and finally walking normally again had blinded her for a moment, making her forget who she was going to hug.

But she was still smiling as she lay against the couch, opening her grimoire again.

"When will you pick her up?"

He was still staring at her, his eyes sad, but a small smile was on his lips.

"Tomorrow morning," he said. "We should try to put together the spell, so that we can do it as soon as she's here."

She nodded, still smiling at him. She just couldn't stop being happy.

He opened his grimoire and started reading through the pages, bending the angles when he found something that could help them build the perfect spell.

Bonnie did the same, concentrating all her energy on finding the perfect spell.

They remained like this for a long time, their noses deep in the pages full of spells, changing position every once in a while.

They didn't talk much, just asked a few questions about the spells they were examining – most questions were from Bonnie. There was so much more that he knew.

They didn't even notice that the sky outside had turned dark blue until their eyes had difficulty reading and a car entered the parking lot.

Bonnie finally took her nose out of the book and stretched her neck. She had been lying on the couch, her head against the arm rest and her legs spread towards Kai's head. He was still on the floor, his legs under the coffee table, his head on the cushion and one hand massaging the toes of her broken leg.

Bonnie widened her eyes. When the hell he had started touching her and how had she not even _noticed_? His thumb was brushing and squeezing gently, soothing the aches, while he was still bent over his grimoire.

She almost surrendered to the desire to say nothing, and just let him keep touching her because his fingers on her toes were amazing. But she couldn't let him seduce her with the pretence of this peaceful slice of life.

Besides, _she_ was supposed to be seducing _him_. It was even more important now that she would soon be free of the plaster.

"Kai?" she asked, swallowing down the urge to tell him to never stop massaging her.

"What?" he asked back, his eyes still on the book, his fingers still working on her toes.

When she didn't answer, he looked up and met her eyes. She flicked her eyes to his hand on her feet and his own eyes followed, then he started. He stared at his own hand like it wasn't even his anymore. Like he was actually asking himself who had put it there.

He took it away quickly, as if her foot had suddenly burnt him.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking confused and embarrassed.

"It's okay," she said, licking her lower lip. "I-I think I heard a car."

He looked around the room, noticing the dark. "What time is it?"

Bonnie shrugged and shook her head; she had no idea.

"That's probably Martha with our dinner," he said, standing up. He stretched awkwardly from what must have been an uncomfortable position. It offered her a lovely view of his lower abdomen, uncovered by his short t-shirt.

She inhaled deeply, looking away and pushed herself into a seated position.

They heard Martha open the door and he stretched out his hand to help her and, biting her lip, she took it, surprising both of them.

Kai stared at her hand in his for a moment, then tightened his grip and pulled her up, steadying her by putting his other hand on her hip.

Bonnie looked up at him, her breath heavy and her heart pounding.

They were so close she could see the vein on his neck thrumming.

She wanted to talk to him about that morning, but his breath had become heavier. He was leaning towards her, slowly, and she didn't dare move. She just blinked rapidly and parted her lips to welcome his.

"Are you guys dancing?"

Martha's voice came in with the dazzling light of the lamps that she had turned on.

Kai took a step back and, hesitating, let her hand go.

Bonnie sighed heavily and turned towards the woman.

"We were just coming to the kitchen," she said, brushing her clothes and heading towards her.

Martha eyed her thoughtfully, then smiled and followed her to the other room.

"So, what have you guys done all day?"

The woman put a giant baking tin on the table and Bonnie felt the delicious smell of lasagna; her stomach gurgled in response.

"We have good news," Kai said behind them, entering the kitchen.

"It sure isn't about the dirty dishes still on the table. You always do that."

She didn't sound pissed, just resignedly amused.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Kai smiled his innocent smile and took the plates from the table, putting them in the sink. He washed his hands and Bonnie did the same, being careful not to touch him under the spray of warm water.

He glanced at her and tried to smile, but then he turned away to wipe his hands on a cloth. Bonnie closed the tap and he handed her the cloth.

She watched as he and Martha set the table in synchrony, as if they had done this many times.

Kai pulled Bonnie's chair out for her and she thanked him with a smile. He sat at the head of the table and Martha to his other side, serving them dinner.

"So, what's the good news?" she asked them.

Bonnie was drinking a long sip of water, so he answered for her.

"She's going to get her plaster off, tomorrow," he said with a wide smile.

Martha touched his hand on the table, smiling back at him. "I'm happy to hear that."

Bonnie stared at their hands for a moment, then at Kai, completely relaxed with the woman he was supposed to have met five days before. She wondered what connected two people as different as them.

She listened to them talk for many minutes while they ate. He was explaining about his sister coming to help them, about the fact that they were twins but that he looked younger because of the prison world and about how she was going to help him fix Bonnie's leg. Even though Martha was clearly only understanding half of what he said, she didn't stop or interrupt him.

"But how did you get down?" she asked Bonnie when he finished.

Bonnie swallowed the bread in her mouth and blushed lightly, remembering her fall. "I walked," she said. "It took me a bit longer than usual, but I made it." She smiled proudly.

Kai was watching her with a strange expression. "She's tougher than she looks."

"Yeah, I guessed that when she fought you even when she was half dead when you took away her magic," the woman said, smiling at both of them.

It was clear that Kai was thinking about that night by the look on his face. His smile was gone and his thick eyebrows were close, his mouth a thin line.

"Why did you stay?" Bonnie asked, gaining a quick look from the boy to her right.

Martha smiled. "Maybe the question is _why did he let me_?" she said, eying him knowingly.

He looked away, but the two of them were waiting for an answer.

Kai sighed and looked at Bonnie. "You were hurt, covered in blood and you hated me. I thought you'd preferred to see the face of a stranger rather than mine when you woke up."

Bonnie broke their eye contact, because he was staring at her with his bright gray eyes and she couldn't bear their honesty.

Martha was smiling at Kai, then she looked at her. "And because he spent fifteen minutes debating if he had the right to take off your bloody clothes."

Bonnie blushed and glared at him. He rolled his eyes, his cheeks a little bit more pink than usual.

"Thank you for doing the right thing," she said.

He didn't answer, but gave her a small smile.

"And thank you," she added for Martha, "for keeping an eye on him."

Martha smiled.

"So, speaking of clothes," Bonnie said, after a moment of silence. "Kai got mine from my room at Withmore. I told him to take my dresses, so that would it would be easier for me to dress myself; but now that I'm going to get my plaster removed, I would like to keep these, if you don't mind."

Martha tried to hide a smile, but didn't exactly succeed. "It's okay. He paid for them, anyway."

Bonnie looked at him and nodded, grateful.

"Why don't you girls go upstairs and fill the wardrobe while I finish put together the spell?" he asked, standing up and taking his dish.

Martha stood up and took it from his hands. "I'm sure she managed to get down, with her stubbornness, but I doubt she can get upstairs without help," she said, starting to clean the table. "Take her to her room while I wash the dishes and I'll come to help her with her dresses when I'm done."

Kai bit his lip, waiting for Bonnie to agree on letting him help her. But she stood quickly and murmured that she was fine and she was completely able to find her way back to the room by herself.

Bonnie didn't want his help, she didn't want him to touch her, because whenever he did she wanted him to touch her more, longer, more intimately.

She headed to the stairs, thanking Martha for the dinner and saying that she would wait in her room.

But when she got to the first step, she finally realized what Martha had tried to say: it had been sort of easy to get down, but it was going to be definitely harder to drag her leg all the way up for two floors.

Still, she climbed the first three steps. Then she had to stop and catch her breath.

Behind her, she could hear Kai's foorsteps.

"Are you okay?" he asked, getting up to where she was.

"Yeah," she said, shaking her head. "It's just gonna take me longer that twenty-five minutes, this time." She tried to smile.

He said nothing, just looked at her with an unusually serious expression.

Bonnie looked away and took another step, mentally thanking him for being there in case she'd fell again.

"I could take you up in a minute," he said, taking the step with her.

She swallowed and didn't answer, as she climbed up another step. She had promised she wouldn't let him carry her, but where did caution end and stupidity begin? Was she really going to suffer for two floors rather than be in his arms for a few minutes? Just because she was afraid she would enjoy it too much?

Even though she'd enjoy it, what was the problem? She was a grown up woman with a little crush on the man who was offering to help her. So what? She was completely able to not jump on him and rip off his clothes just because he would carry her. But was he?

"I don't get it," Kai said, staring down at her. He looked around to see if they were alone, like there could be anybody else besides Martha, then looked back at her with his eyes turned stone. "You almost kissed me twice today, but you still refuse to let me carry you," he whispered.

Bonnie's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't expected him to bring up their two almost-kisses. She quickly looked away.

"I- uh- it was-," she tried to say, but he cut her short.

"I promise you it's some seduction ploy. I will put you down as soon as we take the last step."

She looked at him and his shoulders, the curve of his neck and his biceps. He _was_ the definition of seduction.

"Come on," he said, putting a hand on her waist.

He waited for her. Bonnie sighed loudly, her face warm, then placed her right arm on his shoulders.

They stared at each other for a long second, then he put his arm under the knee of her plastered leg and with a little jump, her second leg followed and she was in his arms. Her right side was pressed against his chest and her arms were around his neck. He started to climb the stairs and she got a nice view of the left side of his face, his jaw covered with facial hair.

He was completely different with the beard. He looked older – and sexier, _goddammit._

His grip on her thigh and hip was tight and so was hers on his shoulders. Her body kept brushing against his abdomen and she was going completely mad, but she'd have sworn she could feel the shape of his muscles under the shirt.

"You almost kissed me, too, by the way," she said, but soon regretted.

He swallowed, making his Adam's apple bob slowly. He licked his lips and looked down at her, his breath heavy.

"Yeah, I did."

That was all he had to say?

"Here," he said, stopping. "We've arrived."

She looked at the door of her room with surprise. She remembered the journey as much longer.

Kai was still holding her.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him.

He nodded, then put her legs down gently, keeping his hand on her waist. Bonnie, on the other hand, still hadn't let go his nape.

"Get some rest now," he said, loosening his grip on her.

She nodded, letting her hands slip to his shoulders.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he murmured, so close she felt his words on her lips.

Kai let her go and she finally did the same.

He turned around and took the stairs again, running down.

She stood there for at least another minute, staring at her traitorous hands that craved to touch him again.

She didn't love him, but her crush was certainly not as small as she had thought.

* * *

Kai ran to the living room. He was breathing heavy, his heart was racing and he needed to hide the fact that it was all for Bonnie.

He sat on the couch they had occupied early and ran his hands through his hair. His leg had started to move nervously.

He had had her in his arms for the second time. But _this time_ she was awake and she had let him carry her willingly. Her arms had been laced around his neck, instead of lifeless to her sides. Her eyes had been open to take in the details of his features. And he had loved every minute of it.

He loved her.

What the fuck were you supposed to do when you love someone?

Did you tell them? Or did you just keep gladly dying watching them?

With shaky hands, he opened the grimoires to finish the spell – he needed to distract himself from the feeling of her thigh in his palm and her side against his heart.

Martha walked in wiping her hands on a cloth, eying him carefully.

"Are you okay?" she asked, sitting in front of him.

"Yeah," Kai lied. "I'm fine. I just need to finish this thing, you know?"

"I know," she said and he suspected she actually _knew_.

Did she know he loved Bonnie? Had Martha known the whole time?

"Don't stay up too late," she recommended him. "It's a big day, tomorrow."

Kai nodded, watching her leave to take Bonnie's belongings to her.

He stared at the Bennett grimoire for a moment, and thought about how much had changed in a day. The night before, Bonnie had cried herself to sleep because of him. This morning she had tried to kiss him – and even though he still suspected she had done it just to stab him and leave him behind for the fourth time – she had almost let him kiss her earlier and she hadn't looked pissed or scared to let him touch her now.

There were only two options then. Either (a) she was really trying to seduce and abandon him; or (b) she was falling as much as he was.

He liked the second one better and, for the second time that day, Kai felt a whole new kind of emotion: hope.


End file.
